Return To Dinosaur Land
by karkovice
Summary: Sequel to "A New Creature". Also written for my friend, who wanted me to include his own character in the story. Karkovice heads off on another adventure. All characters save my own  are copyright their respective owners.
1. Chapter 1 Meeting Sharkie

**RETURN TO DINOSAUR LAND**

**(A DINOSAUR TRAIN STORY)**

**CHAPTER 1**

**MEETING SHARKIE**

As he walked up the steps of the HP Pavilion-otherwise known as the Shark Tank- in San Jose, California, he took it all in. Never in his wildest dreams had he ever imagined that his beloved Montreal Canadiens would've made it this far in the hockey playoffs! The series against the Washington Capitals was tough, the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins was tough, and the series against the Philadelphia Flyers was even tougher; but NOW, it was the Stanley Cup final against the mighty San Jose Sharks! The BIG SHOW! And here he was, part of if all! Luc smiled to himself as he entered the arena ready and eager to take in the game and cheer his beloved Habs on to victory.

He wore the same thing he always wore at every Canadiens game he attended since the start of the playoffs: His red coloured "Sainte-Flanelle" shirt bearing the team's logo; as well as his hockey idol's name: Guy Lafleur; a pair of blue jeans, a red Canadiens ballcap also bearing the team's logo; and a pair of black sneakers. Since the weather in San Jose was sunny and absolutely gorgeous, he decided to leave his Top Flite golfer's windbreaker at the hotel. Since it was a Sunday, it was a rare matinee game with a scheduled puck drop at noon sharp. Since it was also the Stanley Cup finals, he knew the major Canadian TV networks would be on hand to broadcast the game: the CBC, RDS, and even TSN! He thought he'd better make a point to try and get himself on live TV and say "hi" to the family back home, whom he knew would be watching. He'd hope to find RDS, because it was the French Canadian sports network; and that's the station they'd most likely be watching from back home in New-Brunswick.

It has been a long journey for Luc, and it all started more than two years ago when he won that big jackpot in the Canadian 6/49 lottery! A jackpot totalling 15 million dollars! The first thing he said he'd do was take a sabbatical from work and attend every Canadiens home and away game from beginning to end! He had more than enough money to fulfill this lifelong dream, but he knew from the start it wouldn't be easy! For the past year, he'd been literally living out of hotel rooms and airport terminals, but it was worth it!

He kept in touch with his family from time to time just to let them know where he was, how he was doing, how his beloved Habs were doing; but most of all, what kind of places he saw and people he met along the way.

It wasn't the first time he'd walked into the HP Pavillion, neither. Last time he came here was back in early March. _Has it only been three months ago! Time flies when you're having fun! _He thought to himself. Back then, the Canadiens were on a west coast swing. After their one game against the Sharks, the team had to head out to Los Angeles to face the Kings two nights later. Back then, Luc didn't get a chance to see much of San Jose; because he had to hop on a bus after the game to head out to L.A. and get to his hotel room and relax before heading out to the arena for the game. But now, the Canadiens will be in town for the next three days; since they're playing two games in San Jose, with a day off in between, before both teams had to head out to Montreal to play the next two games at the Bell Center. This time, he will get to take in more of the sights and sounds of San Jose; and he already planned an itinerary for his off day tomorrow.

As he walked though the ticket gates of the HP Pavillion, he saw that the place was already crowded. It was a half an hour before the start of the game, and there was a literal sea of teal blue jerseys- the Sharks' team colour- wandering around. Some of the Sharks' fans stared or glared at him as he stood out in his red Canadiens' jersey. Some of them even taunted him by shouting out at him "You're gonna go DOWN, man!" or "No way your HABS are gonna beat the mighty Sharks!" Luc simply ignored them. He was sure there would be more Habs fans present at the game tonight. He figured they would all be gathered behind the Canadiens' team bench, which was where his seat for today's game was located.

The memory of how the arena was laid out came back to him as he worked his way through the crowd in an effort to find the right section; and eventually, his seat. Just in front of the entrance he was supposed to take, he saw that the Sharks' team mascot, S.J. Sharkie, was there entertaining the crowd; and posing to get his picture taken with kids and adults alike. Luc already knew of Sharkie's reputation of being a prankster, and was quite aware of the antics he sometimes performed on fans of opposing hockey teams; which was why he never sought out to meet him, and hoped that Sharkie wouldn't approach him to pull one of his tricks on him. During the one regular season game, he saw Sharkie on the scoreboard's huge screen do his thing during breaks in the game, and during period intermissions. He even saw him entertaining in the stands here and there in the arena! But he was glad that Sharkie never came anywhere near him, and he was quick to leave the arena when the game was over. The Canadiens had lost that game 4 to 3, but Luc was not sorely disappointed. Matter of fact, the score was way better than what he expected! He knew that the Sharks had a powerful offense, and that it would practically take a miracle to beat the Sharks that night; but it was a close game right up until the last 5 minutes of the third period when Danny Heatley, the Sharks' star player, scored the goal that would end up being the game winner.

_Sharkie sensed that he had to look towards the approaching Canadiens' fan. He didn't know why, at first, but as he saw this 5 foot, 9 inch, roughly 200 pound guy approach in his direction, and saw the aura that surrounded him, he got a vision of the magical being behind the human facade he projected to the outside world. His eyes went wide with astonishment, and the first thought that came to his mind was "I've gotta MEET this guy!"_

Luc tried his best not to draw attention to himself as he hurried past SJ Sharkie. "Excuse me!" he heard from his right. He rolled his eyes as he stopped, for he knew that SJ Sharkie had spotted him and called out to him.

Luc slowly turned around to face Sharkie and pointed at himself as if to say "Who, me?"

"Yes, you! Stay right there..." Sharkie said as he turned to pose with a couple of eager kids while their father took their picture. They thanked him for his time before he turned his attention to Luc.

"Now, I was..." Sharkie stopped mid sentence as he noticed that Luc was adopting a defensive position. "What?"

"At least let me know what it is you plan to do to me before you do it..." Luc said in his French Canadian accent.

Sharkie looked confused. "What are you talkin' about?"

"Come on! I know you! You're S.J. Sharkie, and I know how much you like to play tricks on fans like me..."

Sharkie laughed. "Oh, THAT! Hey, I only do that to fans who are willing participants. It's all for show, trust me! I just wanna talk to you..."

"About what?"

"Actually, can we go someplace private, like my office?"

Luc looked at Sharkie questioningly.

"Come on! I'm not gonna hurt you!" Sharkie said reassuringly with a pat on his arm. "I just wanna talk! That's all! C'mon!"

"Oooooohhhkaaaaayyyy..." Luc said as he followed Sharkie to his office.

A few minutes later, Luc was lead inside Sharkie's private office. _Located right beside the souvenir shop! Typical! _Luc thought to himself. Sharkie closed the door behind him and went and sat down behind his desk and put his feet up.

"SO..." Sharkie began. "I guess the first thing I should ask you to do is change back into your real form..."

"What!"

"Don't play innocent with me, buddy!" Sharkie said rather forcefully. "I know that that human shell you're projecting is meant to hide your true dragon form! There's nobody else here! No security cameras! Nothin'! So why don't you change back into your true form, huh?"

Luc smiled slowly, stood up and did exactly as Sharkie asked. The towering pillar of light slowly dissolved to reveal his true identity of Karkovice the weredragon.

"That's better!" Sharkie smiled with some satisfaction.

"I just have one question: How did you know?" Karkovice asked.

"My Sharkie sense told me..."

"Sharkie sense?"

Sharkie nodded. "Yeah! You know how Spider Man has his 'Spidey' sense?"

Karkovice nodded.

"Well, I have my 'Sharkie' sense... It starts tingling every time I'm in proximity of a magical being, like another team mascot... and like YOU... I felt it the moment you came within 20 feet from me..."

Karkovice placed his hands on his hips and chuckled. "Amazing..."

Sharkie smiled momentarily. "I'm guessing your friends with Sparky?"

"Yeah... I am..."

"Does he still go to Dinosaur Land from time to time?"

Karkovice was astounded. "You know about Dinosaur Land?"

"SURE! Every mascot knows about Dinosaur Land! We like to go there with kids who hold a particular interest in dinosaurs... sometimes their parents come, too... I've personally taken SEVERAL kids and their folks there over the years... I take it Sparky's taken you there himself?"

"Yeah... Well, he didn't actually COME with me; but when I was in New York back in April, he left me everything I needed to spend the day there... I must say, I've never met so many interesting dinosaurs in my entire life!"

"Sounds like you had a great time!"

"I did!"

"I have a friend who lives there. His name is Jake. He's a stygimoloch. Would you like to meet him?"

"Uhh... Sure... I've never met a stee-gee... whatever..."

Sharkie smiled. "All right! Say... After the game?"

Karkovice thought about it a moment, then smiled and nodded his head. "Okay. Sure!"

A knock was heard at the door. "Yo, Sharkie! It's almost time!" came the deep voice of a guard.

"Okay! Be right out!" Sharkie called in response. "You'd better go find your seat, and I gotta go do my bit on the ice..."

Karkovice made sure he changed back into his human form and assume his identity of Luc before both he and Sharkie rushed out of the office.

Midway thought the second period of the hockey game, Sharkie came down to where Luc was sitting behind the Canadiens' team bench. He found Luc cheering his team on. "LET'S GO, BOYS! WE CAN BEAT 'EM! WHOOOOOOO!"

"Glad to see you're enjoying yourself!" he said to Luc over the din of the crowd.

"I ALWAYS enjoy myself at these games!" Luc admitted.

"Well, that's good! Listen, I just wanted to make sure that our trip to Dinosaur Land after the game was still on..."

"Oh! Well..." the groan of the crowd cut his sentence short. "OH OOH! Excuse me... ALL RIGHT, LES BOYS! BEAU BUT! BEAU BUT! WHOOOOOO!"

The Canadiens had just scored another goal, and he was celebrating.

"AH, MAN! I can't believe they scored ANOTHER one! They're up 3 to 1! That was a fluke!"

"HEY! Speak for yourself, shark boy!" Luc said as he shared hi fives with his fellow Canadiens' fans sitting next to him.

"So... about that trip to Dinosaur Land?" Sharkie asked after the noise had died down.

"Yeah... I still wanna go..."

Sharkie smiled. "All right! I'll have some loose ends to tie up here, then I'll meet you at your hotel about a couple of hours after the game. Sound good?"

Luc nodded. "Sure!"

"Okay..." Sharkie happily said as he patted Luc on the shoulder. "See you then!" He got up as if to leave, then turned to face Luc. "OH! And one more thing..."

"Yes?"

Sharkie then unleashed a can of silly spray on Luc, who screamed as he was covered from head to toe with the stuff. When the can was emptied, Sharkie laughed evilly as he raced away.

"AAAARGGHHH! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, SHARKIE!" Luc growled at him while the Sharks' fans around him laughed and said "Got you there, Habs boy!" while the Canadiens' fans booed Sharkie while he raced away to the cheers of the crowd around him.


	2. Chapter 2 At The Hotel

**CHAPTER 2**

**AT THE HOTEL**

It had been two hours after the game ended. Luc was back in his hotel room, just relaxing and watching TV. Then there was a knock at the door.

Luc sprang into action! He grabbed a pillow off of the bed and walked over to the door. He placed it in front of his face as he opened it.

"Hey, Kark!" said the familiar voice of SJ Sharkie! "What's with the pillow?" he asked.

"What? No silly spray?" Luc asked apprehensively as he peaked from behind the pillow.

Sharkie laughed. "Don't worry! I don't bring that kind of stuff outside of the Tank..." he said in reassurance.

Luc breathed an inward sigh of relief. "Good! Come on in..." he said as he invited Sharkie into his room, dumping the pillow onto the bed.

"So, I take it you've enjoyed the game?" Sharkie asked.

"Yes! Very much so!"

"Man! I can't believe your team won it in overtime, and it's all thanks to your flukey goalie!"

"Flukey? Hey! Jaro's our star goaltender, shark boy! Believe it!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Sharkie said dismissively. "I'll admit he made some pretty big saves during the game. Anyway, you ready for the trip to Dinosaur Land?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!" Luc said with an enthusiastic grin.

"All right!" Sharkie said as he searched for something on himself. "Oh, dear! I seemed to have forgotten my key. You wouldn't have brought yours, by any chance?"

"I think I did!" Luc said as she fished around in his suitcase lying on a nearby lounge chair. "Ah! Here it is!" He smiled as he brought out the key that Sparky gave him only two months ago.

"Let me take a look at that." Sharkie said as he took the key from Luc's hand. He saw that the handle bore the same colours as Sparky's hide, and it had a small imprint of his face on each side. "Yep! That's Sparky's key, all right!" Sharkie said flatly. "I tell you, that dragon likes himself too much for my tastes!" He then handed the key back to Luc

"Have you ever met Sparky?" Luc asked casually as he took back the key.

Sharkie nodded. "Oh, yeah! I've known him for years. Every fall, just before the season starts, there's a big convention in Toronto where all of the team managers and coaches meet to talk about the changes that are to take place in the upcoming season. At the same time, every team mascot is invited to attend where we always do all sorts of things for kids and fans alike. Games, public outings, contests... Seems that me and Sparky are always fighting it out for top spot!"

"Sounds like fun." Luc said with a smile.

Sharkie smiled back and nodded. "It is! It goes on for a whole week. It's ALWAYS a blast! Maybe you should think about becoming a mascot for the Canadiens next season. Your dragon self is as red as their uniform; and you and Youppi can maybe work as a team..."

"But I don't like kids!" Luc admitted.

"Hey! You don't have to like kids to be a mascot! You just gotta endure a few snapshots from parents and reporters while you pose with the young ones, make a few public appearances, and that's it! It's a tough job, sometimes; but it's also the BEST job you can have!"

Luc let it all sink in.

"Something to think about." Sharkie said with a smile as he patted Luc on the shoulder. "Anyway, time's a wastin'! Let's get to Dinosaur Land and see all there is to see before nightfall! I'm sure my stygimoloch friend Jake's gonna like you! Have you ever used that key Sparky gave you?"

Luc shook his head. "No."

"It's supposed to work with any type of lock... Why don't you try it on the bathroom door?" Sharkie suggested.

Luc did as Sharkie said. He closed the bathroom door and inserted the key inside the lock. He was amazed at how easily it fit inside. He turned it about a quarter of the way clockwise, and held his breath as he opened the door.

Luc was astonished to see the familiar sight of the two large double doors that led to the dimly lit cave that emerged onto the path that led to the Cenozoic train station. Luc and Sharkie looked at each other and smiled knowingly. They walked through the threshold of what used to be the hotel room's bathroom door into the hallway that not only had the two wide double doors leading to Dinosaur Land, but there were other doors all up and down as far as the eye could see.

"I wonder where all those other doors lead to..." Luc mused as he shut the bathroom door behind him.

"Who knows?" Sharkie answered. "I was told not to go through those other doors..."

"By whom?"

"Mr. Conductor...He knows a LOT of things!" Sharkie smiled.

Luc chuckled. "No doubt!"

"Oh! You better... uhh..." Sharkie hinted as he stopped Luc at the foot of the double doors.

"Oh! Right..." Luc said as he realized he was still in his human guise. He slowly turned himself into his natural dragon form. Luc thus became Kark once again!

Once his transformation was completed, both male creatures walked through the double doors and into Dinosaur Land! 


	3. Chapter 3 Cenozoic Station

**CHAPTER 3**

**CENOZOIC STATION**

Kark and Sharkie were walking down the path leading to Cenozoic Station. They were simply chatting away as they went. Sharkie was doing most of the chatting, though. Kark was more of a listener than a talker.

"... and that's how I came to be the mascot for the San Jose Sharks..."

"Amazing!" Kark commented.

"Hey! Did you know that we're currently twenty thousand years in the past?" Sharkie asked as they walked up the steps that lead to the platform.

"Really?"

"Yep! If you believe Darwin's theory on evolution, it's at around this time that those apelike creatures who would later become human beings are walking around, but they don't know about this place... Even if they did, they probably wouldn't quite know what to make of it..."

Kark laughed. "Yeah... I can imagine..."

"It's pretty well hidden, though..." Sharkie said.

"Yeah... But my take on the whole theory of evolution is: Although I believe in it, it conflicts with my..."

"Hold that thought!" Sharkie interrupted as he approached the ticket booth.

The bored looking troodon attendant was shocked out of his boredom when he saw Sharkie approaching his booth.

"Heeeey, Sharkie!" the attendant said as he did a special handshake with the anthro shark.

Kark watched as they both shook, then slapped palms and did a finlike gesture by placing their hands on their heads and wiggling their fingers. _A "Sharkie Shake" _Kark thought to himself with some amusement.

"You still have some of those universal train tickets handy?" Sharkie then asked.

"Sure do!" the troodon replied.

"I'll need one, and so will my friend here..."

"Ok."

The attendant then went and grabbed two tickets and handed them to Sharkie. "Here you go." Sharkie then said as he handed one of the tickets to Kark.

"Oh! Kark, I'd like you to meet my friend here... This is Troy Troodon, quartermaster for Cenozoic Station."

"Hi." Kark said shyly as he stuck out his taloned hand towards the troodon.

"Pleasure..." the troodon smiled as he accepted Kark's hand. "Excuse me while I call the Dinosaur Train."

The troodon quartermaster then picked up what looked to Kark like a traditional Star Trek communicator. He even heard the warbling sound as the troodon opened it up. "Cenozoic Station to Dinosaur Train..." he said as he held it up to his mouth.

Kark glanced at Sharkie in astonishment.

"Look familiar?" Sharkie smiled knowingly.

Kark simply nodded.

"You a fan of the show?"

"BIG fan!"

"So am I..." Sharkie admitted.

"Really!" Kark said in astonishment.

Sharkie smiled and nodded. "Mmm Hmm."

"Dinosaur train here!" came the voice of the train's Engineer through the communicator.

"Got two passengers here for ya..." the troodon quartermaster said.

"Ok... We'll be there in fifteen minutes..." came the reply.

"Gotcha! Over and out!" the quartermaster said as he closed the communicator device.

"I can't help but notice that... communicator... you're using..." Kark said as he pointed towards it.

"What, this?" Troy asked as he held it up, then laughed. "Yeah! Practical little thing... It allows me to communicate with the Dinosaur Train, even if it's, like, twenty million years in the past! You see, because this is mostly a transit station, and very few people come here, the Dinosaur Train doesn't show up unless there's actually someone here waiting for it... Like you two..." Troy smiled.

Kark nodded. "I see..."

"So, where are we off to today!" Troy asked Sharkie.

"I thought I'd introduce Kark here to my good friend Jake Stygimoloch, then take it from there..."

"Oh! So you're going to Stygimoloch Valley, eh? Never been there myself, but I hear it's real nice... I take it you're the mascot for the Montreal Canadiens?" Troy asked as he indicated Kark's jersey.

Kark had not realized that he had his oversized "Sainte-Flanelle" jersey on. "Uhh..." he began as he glanced to Sharkie, who smiled and winked. "Unofficially..." Kark said with a smile.

"Humpf..." Troy said casually as he shrugged. "Well, you're the only two mascots who've come here today so far... In any case, the train should be here any minute. Feel free to look around while you wait."

"Ok! Thanks, Troy!" Sharkie said.

"See you later!" Troy said as he tipped his hat.

"Other mascots come here!" Kark asked as he and Sharkie strolled along the platform.

Sharkie nodded. "Yep! All mascots have these special keys to Dinosaur Land, and we were each given a spare one to give only to somebody who's really special; which tells me that you must be a really special friend of Sparky's, if he gave you his spare key..."

Kark pondered this as he glanced at the key in his hand. "I guess I am... Seems funny, for a lowly weredragon like me..."

Sharkie chuckled. "I can tell 'modesty' is your middle name... Be proud of how special you are, Kark; and don't be afraid to show that pride!" Sharkie said as he tapped Kark on the shoulder.

"It surprises me that Troy there knows about the Habs... Let alone NHL hockey teams..."

Sharkie smiled. "Well, he's HAD to! This is where all team mascots come to take people to visit Dinosaur Land. He keeps books and brochures in his booth that tells him all about the different sports teams, and what each mascot looks like..."

Kark glanced back towards the booth and saw that Troy was sitting back in his chair and flipping through a book that detailed the history of the Montreal Canadiens. Kark couldn't help but chuckle at this.

"Now, what were you saying about Darwin's theory?" Sharkie then asked, changing the subject.

"Oh! Well, I believe there is some truth to it. It's definitely plausible. At the same time, though, it conflicts with that my religion teaches about how God created Adam and Eve and gave them Earth's inheritance..."

"Oh? You're a Christian?"

"Roman Catholic..."

"Oh... Well, me, I don't belong to any particular Church or Sect; but I do believe in the notion of God... or the All Powerful Supreme Being who created the entire universe, and everything that's in it... I also believe that He(or in my case, I call this being 'Hir', meaning someone who has no specific gender...) created every living creature in this universe for some kind of purpose... But whether these creatures naturally evolved, or were simply brought to life out of nothingness, has always been a great mystery to me... Perhaps it's a mystery that I will never solve, or find an answer to... or maybe it was never MEANT to be solved... or has no real answer to it..."

"That's an interesting philosophy, Sharkie!" Kark said with a smile. "I'm sure we can talk about this for hours..."

"I'm sure we could..." Sharkie smiled back.

The distant sound of a train whistle brought an end to that conversation, though. "Oh! Here it comes!" Sharkie said.

Soon enough, the Dinosaur Train came into view. Both males watched as the train grinded to a halt in front of Cenozoic Station. Moments later, the door to the passenger car opened to reveal Mr. Conductor.

"SHARKIE!" Mr. Conductor said as he greeted Sharkie with another of their own special handshake. _Another "Sharkie Shake"... or a "Sharkie and Mr. Conductor" shake... _Kark thought to himself.

"And look who's here... Why it's my good friend KARK!" Mr. Conductor said as he came over to hug the big weredragon.

"Hello, Mr. Conductor!" Kark said as he accepted the hug from the troodon.

"So where are we off to today?" Mr. Conductor asked.

"We're going to Stygimoloch Valley... We're going to meet my good buddy Jake..." Sharkie said in answer.

"Jake Stygimoloch, eh?" Mr. Conductor said pensively. "Well, I'm sure he and Kark will get along just fine!"

"I KNOW they will..." Sharkie said with a grin.

"The Dinosaur Train will get you there in no time at all! Climb aboard, gentlemales!" Mr. Conductor invited.

As soon as they were all aboard and the door to the passenger car was closed, the train chugged on down the tracks on its way to the next stop on its route.


	4. Chapter 4 Meeting Jake

**CHAPTER 4**

**MEETING JAKE**

Kark and Sharkie found a bench that was big enough for both of them to sit on. They saw that there were other dinosaurs of all kinds on the train sitting on other benches here and there; or standing, since they were too big to sit on any of the benches. Kark figured they must've gotten on at other points on the Dinosaur Train's route, remembering what Troy Troodon said about Cenozoic Station being nothing more than a transit station.

The double doors at the front of the passenger car slid open to reveal Mr. Conductor, who approached Kark and Sharkie. "May I have your tickets, please?" he asked.

"Oh!" Kark said as he handed it to Mr. Conductor. "Here you go!"

"Thank YOU!" Mr. Conductor said in a musical tone as he punched it with his toe claw. Then he punched Sharkie's ticket.

"I'm curious..." Kark began. "Since the dinosaurs in Dinosaur Land don't actually BUY these tickets, what's the use of having them?"

Mr. Conductor scratched his head. "Bye the tickets?" he asked in a confused tone.

"Yeah... Where we come from, Sharkie and I, we use money, or currency, to buy things like train tickets. But since there doesn't seem to be any of that here, what's the point of getting these tickets at the train stations?"

Mr. Conductor had no idea what Kark was referring to, at first, then it dawned on him. "Oh, Yeeeeahh... Sharkie's told me about how things are done in your time, once..." He laughed. "Well, since we dinosaurs have no need for things like... maw-knee... we don't actually... BYE... stuff, like you've described. Our society is based on sharing. Everything is there to be shared by everybody that lives here. As for the tickets, well, it's simply a means for us to keep track of who travels on the Dinosaur Train, and where they're going..."

Kark nodded knowingly. "Makes sense."

Mr. Conductor smiled. "Things are less complicated here." Then he checked his pocket watch. "OOPS... Gotta make the announcement... TIME TUNNEL! TIME TUNNEL APPROACHING, FOLKS!"

"This is my favourite part!" Kark told Sharkie as he anxiously looked out the window.

The train entered into the vortex as soon as it entered the tunnel. It disappeared in a flash of light, and the outside scenery was replaced by the actual time tunnel.

"Never gets old..." Kark said, never taking his eyes off the time tunnel effect outside the train. "Unbelievable how it looks just like when the Enterprise-D jumps into warp..."

"I've made that same comparison..." Sharkie said. Kark turn to face him. "Which Star Trek shows do you like? I like The Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise myself..."

"I like the original series, The Next Generation and Enterprise... I have all of the seasons on DVD..."

"Really?" Sharkie asked.

Kark smiled and nodded. "I've also got all of the movies featuring the original cast, plus the four featuring The Next Generation cast... I still haven't gotten the prequel that came out last summer... I'm waiting for them to release the Collector's Edition DVD set for that one..."

"Someday, you've gotta show me that impressive collection of yours..." Sharkie suggested.

"I may just do that..." Kark smiled.

The train then emerged from the time tunnel and exit from the other side of the mountain tunnel.

"Next stop: Stygimoloch Valley Station!" Mr. Conductor announced.

"This is where we get off..." Sharkie said.

"All right..." Kark said as he flapped his batlike dragon wings in a stretch.

The train grinded to a halt right next to the train station. Kark saw that it was nothing more than a small wooden platform with a small roofed area in the middle that was obviously meant to provide shade for dinos who'd wait for the Dinosaur Train to arrive. He figured it must be another one of those transit stations that doesn't see much in the way of passenger traffic.

"Say 'hi' to Jake for me!" Mr. Conductor said as he tipped his hat to the two males disembarking the train.

"We will!" Sharkie replied.

"Oh... AND DON'T LOSE THOSE TICKETS!" Mr. Conductor called out as they reached the steps leading to the path that bring them to Stygimoloch Valley. Sharkie turned around to give his troodon friend the wink and the gun.

Kark saw that there was a small booth at the foot of the stairs. They both nodded to the bored looking troodon attendant, who waived lazily as they walked past. They then proceeded onto the trail that led to Stygimoloch Valley.

Kark admired all of the lush vegetation and listened to the sounds of various animals all around him as they walked down the path.

Eventually, they reached the valley where a lot of stygimolochs lived. Kark saw a community of dozens of nests all gathered around each other. He also saw that many of them had three to four eggs inside that were incubating.

Thinking that this was where Sharkie's stygimoloch friend Jake lived, he turned towards the direction of the nests; but when Kark saw that Sharkie was continuing onwards down another path, he raced to catch up with him.

"Hey, Sharkie!" Kark called out as he caught up his anthro shark friend. "Isn't that where Jake lives?"

"Here?" Sharkie laughed. "Oh, no! This is where the females keep their nests, and the families wait for their eggs to hatch. Male bachelors, like Jake, live in caves. It's not far up ahead! Try to keep up!" Sharkie said as he continued on down the path.

Eventually, they reached a cave that was at the foot of a large mountain. "This is it!" Sharkie announced as they arrived.

"Jake!" he called out towards the mouth of the cave. "Jake, it's Sharkie! I brought a friend for you to meet!" There was no answer. "JAAAAKE!" Sharkie called out louder.

After a few moments of silence, he turned to Kark. "He doesn't seem to be home at the moment. He often likes to go for walks in the forest...Maybe that's what he's doing right now..."

"So what do we do? Wait here 'til he comes back?"

"Actually, I think I know where we could find him... Follow me!" Sharkie said as he led Kark down the path to a nearby forest.

A short time later, they were able to find Jake. They rounded a bend, and that's when they saw him. Kark saw right away that he was a male. He measured his height at around seven feet tall, his tail length to be about five feet long, and estimated his weight to be around three hundred pounds. He displayed the typical facial features of a stygimoloch, and his head had several small little horns protruding from it, except for two rather large ones that looked to be longer and pointier than any of the other stygimolochs he had seen so far. They were also white in colour. He saw the sun glinted off a few of them when they were at just the right angle. He also had dark blue eyes, and a yellow patch that ran from the top of his forehead down to his chin. Kark also saw that he looked to be pretty young. He figured he must be a male who had just reached adulthood.

They saw that he was preoccupied with something in a bush at the foot of a tree, so he didn't notice them approach him.

"Hi, Jake." Sharkie said softly as he got to within a few feet from the young dino.

"Oh! Hey, Sharkie..." Jake said as he glanced briefly at his friend, then turned his attention back to whatever it is he was focusing on earlier.

"Whatd'ya got there?" Sharkie asked curiously as he bent to look over Jake's shoulder.

"Oh, it's just a nest of birds... three babies... The tree branch the nest was on broke and it fell to the ground right in this bush... I just finished putting the nest back together, and I was about to put it back up onto a stronger branch in the tree... Don't know where the mother is... probably out looking for food..."

Sharkie tsked. "Poor guys!"

"Yeah... The bush cushioned their fall, though... It's a miracle they didn't die!"

Jake smiled lightly as he gingerly picked up the nest of chirping chicks. He then climbed up onto a rock sitting at the foot of the tree, then placed his other foot on another rock sitting a couple of feet away to get his balance. Then he lifted the nest up to a thick enough branch and set it down, making sure it was lined up to a thick bush directly below to cushion the fall, in case this branch should also break. "There you go. Safe and sound." He said softly. The young birds were chirping away as if to thank him for his kind act.

Sharkie helped Jake climb down from his stance on the rocks. "Well done, Jake!" Sharkie congratulated.

"Uhh... Jake?" Sharkie continued. "There's someone I'd like you to meet... This is Karkovice the weredragon..."

Jake was stunned to see this ten foot tall, two ton, red skin coloured creature standing in front of him that looked unlike any dinosaur he had ever seen before!

"Kark? This is my good friend, Jake Stygimoloch..." Sharkie said in introduction.

"Pleasure..." Kark said softly with a smile as he extended his hand out to the young male dino.

Jake didn't move for a few seconds, but then regained his composure as he accepted the hand, being careful not to touch the sharp talons. "Hi." He said shyly.

There was a few moments of awkward silence between the two males. Sharkie decided to break the ice between them. "So, Jake! Got anything special planned for today?"

"Uhh... N-n-not really... No!"

Sharkie smiled. "Great! Well, now that you two have met, what would you guys like to do today?"

After a few moments, Kark got an idea. "I know! We could visit my friends the Pteranodon family..."

"Pteranodon family?" Jake mused. "Oh, yeah... I remember Stuart and Shirley Stygimoloch telling me about them... Uhh... They're good friends of mine... I used to babysit their son Spikey a lot; and they told me about this family of pteranodons they've met who've apparently adopted a baby T-rex male..."

"That's them!" Kark grinned.

"Well, I'd like to meet them for sure..." Jake announced with a smile.

Sharkie growled happily. "Wonderful! I've actually haven't met any pteranodons before, so this could be interesting! What d'you say, Jake?"

"Why not!" Jake smiled.

"Terrific!" Sharkie said as he patted both males on the shoulder. "That means we'll have to take the Dinosaur Train to Pteranodon Terrace... But FIRST... Why don't you show Kark what you can do, Jake?"

"What?... Oh, YEAH! Right! Uhhhh... You sure Kark won't be bothered by it?" Jake asked apprehensively.

Sharkie smiled and shook his head. "He won't. Trust me!"

"O-o-okay..." Jake said softly. "Don't be scared by what you're about to see... It's really quite harmless..." he laughed nervously.

Jake then closed his eyes and extended his arms to either side of him. A growling pillar of light rose up from the ground to engulf him entirely. Sharkie shielded his eyes from the brilliance of the event, but Kark was too astounded to cover his eyes, which had grown to as big as cup saucers. This phenomena was an all too familiar sight to him!

Eventually, the pillar of light dissipated to reveal Jake's underlying transformation. Kark was amazed at seeing that Jake the stygimoloch had changed himself into Jake the human. His human guise stood about 6 feet tall, he was relatively skinny and looked to weigh about 150 pounds. He had medium dark brown hair with light blue eyes. His clothes consisted of ordinary blue jeans, a white T-shirt bearing the United Airlines logo with the caption "Fly united" underneath, what Kark could only described as a camouflage coloured jungle hat, and black hiking boots on his feet.

"My God! You're a SHAPESHIFTER!" Kark said in deep amazement.

Jake simply smiled and nodded as he placed his human hands behind his back.

A beaming Sharkie patted Kark on the shoulder. "I knew you'd wanna see that..."

Kark glanced at Sharkie, then back at Jake, and grinned broadly. "This is AMAZING!"

"Now, why don't you show Jake what YOU can do, Kark?" Sharkie pressed.

Kark beamed. "All right..."

"Don't tell me..." Jake said as he let his jaw drop.

"Now it's YOUR turn not to be scared at what you're about to see..." Kark said as he began his own transformation into his human form. When it was done, Jake's own eyes were as big as saucers.

"I'm a shapeshifter, just like you..." Kark(who was now the human Luc) said with a smile.

"So what do you think of THAT, Jake?" Sharkie grinned as he asked.

Jake was momentarily at a loss for words. Then, smiling slowly, he cried out. "Incredible! FINALLY, I meet another shapeshifter... JUST LIKE ME..."

Kark was surprised by Jake rushing up and hugging him deeply. "Uhh... I'm... glad to meet another shapeshifter like me, too..." he said as he accepted Jake's big hug.

They stayed like this for a few moments. When Jake relinquished the hug, but kept his hands on Kark's forearms, Kark saw that Jake was almost to the point of tears, as if he had just met up with a long lost relative he was close to, and he had not seen in years.

"Okay, guys!" Sharkie said as he placed his hand on each of their shoulders. "We should get moving, if we wanna go see Kark's dinosaur friends."

Everyone agreed to head back towards Stygimoloch Valley Station and wait the Dinosaur Train to come and take them to Pteranodon Terrace.

A short while later, they reached the clearing where Jake's cave was. Since both males preferred to go around in their altered animal forms, Jake had turned back into his stygimoloch form, and Kark had changed back into his bipedal dragon form.

"Wait, guys!" Jake said, stopping them in front of his cave. "I need to go get something..." he rushed into his cave, and came out moments later carrying something in his right hand.

"A notepad?" Kark asked as he eyed it.

"SKETCH pad..." Jake corrected. "I like to draw things... Mostly trees and animals; but I sometimes like to draw the dino people I meet... I'm a bit of an artist..." He laughed nervously.

"Really?" Kark asked.

Jake smiled and nodded. "I can show you some of my artwork. It's right here in this pad. I think I even drew the Dinosaur Train one time... Who knows? I may even draw YOU today..."

Kark grinned. "I'd like that... Here! Let me see!"

Jake handed him his sketch pad without saying a word. Kark flipped through the pages, admiring the drawings.

"You know, this is really good!" Kark commented as he handed the pad back to Jake.

"Thanks." Jake said with a smile.

"You know, I know a young dino who's a bit of an artist, too! Only he likes to carve things out of wood or gourds with his toe claw..."

"Toe claw? Let me guess... deinonychus?" Jake said.

"Yeah... That's right! How'd you know?" Kark asked.

Jake shrugged. "Just lucky... Plus, I know deinonychus are quite adept at using their toe claws for all kinds of things... and I personally don't know of any other dino who could be able to do what you've described..."

Kark chuckled. "You're very perceptive..."

"I know..." Jake said in reply.

"So tell me... When did you first realize you had this ability?" Kark then asked, changing the subject.

"When I was very young, I had a dream where I was talking to what I can only describe as a human magic male, who told me that I was destined for greatness. He also told me about how 'things are not always what they seem' and that 'appearances can be deceiving'.

"I had no idea what it meant, at first; but when I woke up, I somehow felt different... I looked down at my hands and I was horrified to see that they turned into human hands... I ran out of the cave where I was staying at and located a nearby pool of water. I was even more horrified to see that my face had also turned into a human. I couldn't understand what was happening to me!

"I ran and hid into the woods for the better part of the day... I couldn't stop crying... I thought I was gonna die! When I finally stopped crying, I realized that I had turned back into a stygimoloch..."

"Wow!" Kark commented. "Sounds like you were scared out of your mind..."

Jake nodded. "I was... Thankfully, though, I was already good friends with Sharkie. He told me that I was a 'magic being' with really special powers, and taught me how to control them. Now, I can change form at will no problem... He even gave me those black hiking boots you saw on my feet! Given the rugged terrain on Stygimoloch Valley, he knew I would need them whenever I walked around as a human."

"Yeah... the tingling of my 'sharkie sense' allowed me to connect with Jake..." Sharkie chimed in.

"Fascinating!" Kark said with a shake of his head.

"What about you, Kark? When did YOU find out about your own ability?"

"I discovered my own powers later in life... I woke up from a nightmare where I was being chased by a large red dragon... It was the biggest and scariest dragon I ever saw! I woke up not feeling any different than the way I normally felt.

"It was only when I got to the bathroom and looked in the mirror only to see THIS dragon face stare back at me... I felt it to see if it was real... To my added horror, it was... Then I looked down at my arms and saw that they, too, had changed... I was panicking! I didn't know what was happening to me!

"Then the phone rang..."

"Phone?" Jake interrupted.

"Something from our time... It's a bit difficult to describe... It's a device that allows us to communicate with each other over vast distances..."

"Kind of like those communicators the troodons at the train station use to talk to the Dinosaur Train..." Sharkie said.

"Oh... I'd love to see one of those... ffowns... someday..." Jake smiled.

"Anyway, the phone rang. It was my mother. She wanted to know if I was coming in to work that day. At the time, I worked in the bakery that she owned... But when I looked back in the bathroom mirror, I saw that my human face was back... At first, I thought I was still dreaming; but many other such incidences made me realize that it was real. Since I already had an affinity for dragons, I came to accept it as a part of who I am..."

"Does your family know of your ability?" Sharkie asked Kark.

Kark shook his head. "No. I prefer they not know. If they found out, they'd definitely freak out! Can you imagine! What about YOUR family, Jake?"

Jake got a sad look. "I'm an orphan. I don't know who my family is. My REAL family, that is. Sharkie found me when I was still an egg. My real parents apparently abandoned me along that path we just walked down. Sharkie was kind enough to bring me to a stygimoloch couple he knew. The female, my foster mother, was unable to lay eggs; so she took Sharkie's gift as kind of a sign from Creation..."

"Creation?" Kark asked.

"Yeah... It's who... or WHAT... we stygimolochs believe to be that which created everything you see all around you... even the stars up in the sky..."

"It's what we call 'God'..." Sharkie said in turn.

"Yeah, I knew that, actually..." Kark admitted.

Jake looked up at the sky for what seemed like an eternity, then he continued with his story. "So, my foster parents raised me as if I was their own... Even after I became old enough to take up my own cave I always kept in touch with them... They knew my intentions to be by myself; but they said they'd always be there, if ever I needed anything..."

"Sounds kind of like MY parents..." Kark admitted.

"But not a day goes by where I don't think about my real parents, and why they abandoned me, when I was just an egg... Maybe I'll meet up with them someday... For all I know, they may still be living here in Stygimoloch Valley..."

"Maybe... But tell me, how long did it take you to... how do I say this... BLEND your clothes in with your dino form?"

It took a few moments before Jake realized what Kark meant. "OH! You mean make my clothes disappear when I switch from human to dinosaur?"

"Yeah..."

Jake smiled. "Well... Sharkie gave me the human clothes you saw me wearing awhile ago; and thanks to him, I was able to learn to... BLEND it, as you say... with my stygimoloch form..."

"Well, it took a few tries before I could finally learn how to blend my own clothes... I tore apart a few jeans and T-shirts before I finally got it! I found that if I concentrated hard enough, I could get it just right..."

Jake laughed. "But did anybody teach you how to do it properly?"

Kark smiled and shook his head. "It's all self taught..."

"Amazing!" Jake exclaimed.

The three males continued to converse merrily as they made they neared the train station where they are to catch the Dinosaur Train to head for Pteranodon Terrace.


	5. Chapter 5 Corythosaurus Concert

**CHAPTER 5**

**CORYTHOSAURUS CONCERT**

All three males would eventually arrive at Stygimoloch Valley Station. Jake had to stop at the booth to get a ticket to Pteranodon Terrace, as that was their supposed next destination. Kark was amazed at seeing the troodon attendant break out yet another communicator type device and use it to contact the Dinosaur Train.

"Stygimoloch Way Station to Dinosaur Train..." he would say into it with a bit of a light gruff voice.

"Go ahead..." the train's engineer could be heard saying through it.

"Got three here for you to pick up..."

"Okay... We'll be there in fifteen minutes..."

"Roger! Over and out! Fifteen, guys..." the attendant said as he closed the communicator.

Sharkie thanked him as they headed up the steps that led to the wooden platform.

"Do all train stations have those Star Trek communicators?" Kark asked Sharkie.

Sharkie shrugged. "Maybe only the transit stations like this one..."

Sure enough! Fifteen minutes later, the sound of the distant whistle was the tell tale sign that the Dinosaur Train was on its way. Its breaks squealed as it grinded to a halt next to the passenger platform.

"Well, Sharkie, I see you've found your good friend Jake!" Mr. Conductor said as he emerged from the passenger car entrance/exit door. "How you doin', Jake?"

"Just fine, thanks..."

"Plan to do some drawing today?" Mr. Conductor asked.

"You know me, Mr. Conductor..." Jake laughed nervously.

Mr. Conductor smiled. "So where are we off to now?"

"I figured I'd take my two friends to visit the Pteranodon family at Pteranodon Terrace..." Kark smiled as he answered.

"Sounds like a plan! Except they wouldn't be at Pteranodon Terrace right now..."

"Oh?"

"Yeah... They're attending a corythosaurus concert at Corythosaurus Canyon... The Dinosaur Train dropped them off there just a half hour ago..."

"I see..." Kark looked a little disappointed.

"You're more than welcome to go there and attend that concert yourselves..."

"Oh, yeah?" Kark asked as his face brightened.

Mr. Conductor smiled and nodded.

"But... wouldn't we need tickets for that?"

Mr. Conductor laughed. "OOH, no! Corythosaurus concerts are always... free... You just show up there and admire the music..."

"All right! We will!" Kark said with a broad grin.

"I like music!" Jake admitted.

"Sounds good to me!" Sharkie also said with a smile.

"All rightee then! Now, both your tickets are good... You, Jake, however, are going to need one for Corythosaurus Canyon Station. You can get one at the booth downstairs..."

"Okay... be right back..." Jake said as he raced off towards the booth.

"Don't worry! WE'LL WAIT FOR YA!" Mr. Conductor called as Jake disappeared down the steps.

A few minutes later, Jake raced back up the stairs towards the Dinosaur Train with the ticket he needed. He showed it to Mr. Conductor as he arrived at the threshold of the passenger car door.

"Just hold on to it! I'll punch it while we're on route..."

Jake nodded as he boarded the train. After Mr. Conductor shut the passenger car door behind him, the train let loose that tell tale whistle indicating its departure from Stygimoloch Valley Station.

Everything was pretty much quiet with the three "amigos" as the train raced on towards Corythosaurus Canyon. Kark and Jake both shared a bench while Sharkie sat in the bench directly behind them, seeing as there wasn't a bench big enough for the three of them to share. Kark called "shotgun" for the window seat. Jake didn't object, as Kark seemed to like watching the scenery go by, and Jake didn't want to deny him that privilege.

Kark was so fixated on the scenery that he didn't notice that Jake had brought out his sketch pad and was busy drawing a portrait of Kark's head and neck. When it was done, he nudged him and handed the sketch pad to him so he can see his portrait. Smiling, Kark admired it for a few moments, then handed it back to Jake saying "Very nice!" This made Jake crack a smile of satisfaction of his own.

A short time later, the Dinosaur Train arrived at Corythosaurus Canyon. Mr. Conductor told them to "enjoy the concert" as they got off the passenger car. They walked away as he called out his traditional cry of "ALL ABOARD!" to all of the dinos waiting to board the train.

Over by the station's building, Kark saw that there was some repair work going on. He saw a pile of two by fours on the platform with several troodons working away at replacing the floor boards of the passenger platform. His eyes caught a familiar diminutive figure working with a troodon who looked to be showing him what to do. He was not a troodon, though; but of a different species. At first, Kark thought he recognized the smaller dino; but it was only until after seeing him cut off a slab of two by four with his toe claw that he recognized who it was.

"Excuse me..." he said to his two companions as he approached the young dino. "Derek!" he called out.

The young deinonychus looked up at the sound of his name. When he saw who it was, he gasped. "KARK!" he cried out he ran up towards the weredragon.

Kark braced himself for impact as Derek crashed into him in a warm affectionate hug.

"Heeeyyy, little buddy! How ya doin!" Kark asked as he accepted the hug.

"Just GREAT, Kark!" Derek happily said when he relinquished his hold on Kark. "As you can see, I've..."

"No, wait!" Kark interrupted. "Don't tell me! Let me guess! You're an apprentice carpenter!"

"YEAH! That's right! I took your advice and offered my services to the Head Troodon Maintenance guy. They gave me the job last week... Even gave me this hardhat, and EVERYTHING!"

"GOOD FOR YOU, DEREK!" Kark exclaimed with joy as he patted Derek on the back. "So, what did your parents say to all this?"

Derek grew more serious. "Well... They couldn't understand, at first... They thought I didn't wanna be a hunter, like they were... They thought I was being foolish... But after thinking about how much I loved to use my toe claw to make all kinds of things, and after seeing how much I wanted to be a carpenter, they finally accepted my decision... But I can see that they'd much rather have me continue to practice my jabbing and growling, and perfecting my toe claw slashing techniques..."

Kark could see that Derek was having regrets about his decision. How he wanted to please his parents more than anything; who had laid out a perfectly planned future for him(if you call hunting, growling and toe slashing a "future"); but decided to pursue what he really wanted to do with his life, which offered a way better future than what his parents wanted. In essence, Derek's heart was torn.

Kark knelt down to face Derek. "Hey... If you love what you do, it doesn't matter what ANYONE says... Remember what I told you about my father wanting me to be a teacher like him?"

Derek eventually nodded. "Yeah... You're right, of course!"

"And there'll be plenty of time for growling, slashing and toe jabbing... Plus, there's the artistic carving that you also do..."

"That's what I told them, too! I won't be neglecting THOSE responsibilities... Just won't be doing them as much because of this job I got..."

Kark beamed at Derek. "That's the spirit, kid!" He patted Derek on the back again. Then he noticed Jake and Sharkie impatiently watching this exchange, wondering when Kark would realize what the REAL objective of their stopover at Corythosaurus Canyon was. "Oh! Derek, I'd like you to meet some friends of mine... That's Jake Stee-gee-moh-lock, and SJ Sharkie..."

"Hi." Jake said softly as he waved.

"Heya, kid!" Sharkie said with a broad grin that showed his shark's teeth.

"Hi..." Derek said as he tipped his hard hat to them.

"You know, Kark is right, Derek." Sharkie began. "If you wanna be a carpenter, then BE a carpenter, for God's sake; no matter what your parents might say or think!"

Derek nodded. "I know... so what brings you here?" He then asked, changing the subject.

"We're on our way to see a corythosaurus concert... Apparently, the Pteranodons are there..."

"Oh, yeeeahhh... I saw them awhile ago... I hear the corythosaurus' concerts are really good! Lots of nice melodies... Wish I could go; but after we're done here, we gotta head to Rexville Station. A wind storm blew some shingles off of the roof of the train station's building yesterday, and we need to go fix THAT up..."

"Hey, Derek!" the troodon foreman called out to him impatiently.

"I should get back to work... But I'm glad to have seen you again, Kark!" Derek said as he hugged Kark one last time.

"Nice to have met your friends, too..." he then said as he acknowledged Jake and Sharkie.

"Take care, kid!" Sharkie said with a smile as he waved.

"BYE!" Derek called as he three males walked away as they headed towards the area where the concert was being held.

The concert had already started by the time they arrived at the site. They started hearing the melodic rhythms and complex harmonies from about a half mile away. They saw that a huge crowd of many different dinos had already gathered, and there was intense enjoyment in the air.

Kark saw the Pteranodon family up at the front of the crowd. He pointed them out to his two companions. They all decided to stay at the back of the crowd until there was an intermission, then they would go up to meet the Pteranodons during this pause. They found a large unoccupied stone bench in one of the back rows, and grabbed it to sit down and listen to the concert.

Kark was simply amazed at the different tones the corythosaurs were able to produce. Jake explained how they were able to produce those sounds with the help of their head crests; which was also news to Sharkie, who had already heard theories that such a thing was believed to be possible with this particular species; but he wasn't sure if it was true, until now.

Kark noticed that there was a young female corythosaur in the orchestra who was producing the really high pitched tones, while lower pitched sounds looked to be produced by a young male parasaur who had a different kind of head crest on him.

After about a half an hour, the orchestra finally paused to take a break. They left under the applause of the dinosaur crowd who were quite impressed by the group's performance so far. The trio noticed that the two young crested dinos broke from the orchestra to gather with the Pteranodons who got up to stretch their legs and wings. Kark figured the Pteranodon kids must've made friends with them after he left Dinosaur Land last time. That's when the three males all decided to get up to finally go meet Mr. And Mrs. Pteranodon and their brood.

The Pteranodons were quite surprised and delighted to see Karkovice again. All of the Pteranodon kids rushed up to greet Kark in one big group hug. He even shared a hug with Mrs. Pteranodon and a handshake from Mr. Pteranodon.

Introductions were made all around for Jake and SJ Sharkie, and the Pteranodon kids introduced then all to Cory, the corythosaurus; and Perry, the parasaur. Buddy even commented at how big two of Jake's stygimoloch horns were, and that he had never seen horns that big on a stygimoloch before. Jake thanked Buddy for his comment, and pointed out that he figured those horns would make other dinos noticed him more; even moreso, since they appeared to be quite pointy. Kark always figured that the horns on Jake's head were purely decorative, and made so that he'd be noticed more; but the two long ones made him "stick out" more. Everybody laughed at the pun.

When the conversation revolved around the impressions they had on the concert so far, Kark commented that he had never heard such complex harmonies before. It was then learned that Kark loved music a lot.

"Well, since you love music so much, Kark, wanna see what we can do?" Buddy asked.

"You kids can play music now?" Kark asked in astonishment.

Don gave the answer. "Well... not exactly 'play'... It's more like..." He scratched his head. "Uhm... It's hard to describe..."

"Maybe it's better that we show you, Kark..." Tiny said, saving her brother.

"Well, I certainly would like to hear what you can do... By all means!" Kark invited.

Then the four of them did an improvised series of hoots and squawks that actually had a rhythm to it. When it was over, Kark and the others around them gave them some polite applause, to which they each took their bows.

"That was great, guys!" Kark said.

"Yeah! REALLY great!" Sharkie said.

"They actually did something like that on my birthday a short time ago..." Mrs. Pteranodon said.

"Really?" Kark asked.

Mr. Pteranodon nodded. "It was the best birthday present EVER! I was so proud of them..."

Then the adult corythosaurs came back on stage signalling to everyone that it was time for the second half of the concert. Cory and Perry climbed back up on stage to join the adults.

After the welcoming applause died down, the chorus started up the concert again. They performed a few more songs, pausing between each set to allow for the audience to applaud. At one point, the female leader of the chorus(who was actually Cory's mother) came up the front of the stage.

"Thank you, one and all! As some of you may know, we like to encourage our audience to participate in all of our concerts. Having said that, is there anyone here who has a request; or who would like to come up on stage to perform a particular song?"

Somebody from the audience called out a request for a song. While the corythosaurs were performing it, Kark snapped his fingers. "I just got an idea!" Then he motioned for all of the Pteranodon kids to gather up around him. "As your father would say: Let's huddle by the puddle... I have an idea for a really nice song we can perform." He then came up real close to the kids and lowered his voice so only they can hear. "Now, here's what were gonna do..." which was followed by whispered instructions.

After the song was completed and the applause died down, Kark raised his hand to get Mrs. Corythosaurus' attention. "Yes?"

"With your permission, me and the kids here would like to do a song..."

"Oh! Well, by all means..." she said as she invited them up on stage.

"And... uhh... We'll need Cory and Perry's help for this one..."

"All right..." Mrs. Corythosaurus said as she motioned for the two young dinos to come forward.

There was some mumbling from the crowd as Kark gave them instructions on their roles in the song. When everything was understood, everybody took their places. Then Kark stepped up to the front of the stage to speak. Everybody quieted down to hear what the weredragon had to say.

After clearing his throat, he said the following. "This is a song that became very popular, where I come from. It's labelled as 'classic rock', but it's actually got more of a 'rhythm and blues' feel to it. It was done by a group called 'Led Zeppelin' several years ago; and I guess it's in honor of my good friend SJ Sharkie, who is from the area mentioned in this song. It's called 'Going To California'. Now, I'm not the greatest singer ever, but I'll certainly try my best; and I hope you all enjoy it..."

"Oh, no..." SJ Sharkie muttered in embarrassment as he placed his hand over his face, trying to hide the redness his face was probably showing.

"Hit it, guys!" Kark commanded.

Cory and Perry started by sounding off two separate tones repeatedly: Cory the highest, and Perry the lowest. After a few of these, the Pteranodon kids let loose several hoots of various high and low notes. Clearing his throat one more time, Kark sang the following lyrics as best he could:

_Spent my days with a woman unkind_

_Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine_

_Made up my mind. Gonna make a new start_

_I'm going to California with an aching in my heart_

_Someone told me there's a girl out there_

_With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair..._

The kids then made a series of complex hooting and crest sounds for about a minute, then Kark sang the next two verses.

_Took my chances on a big jet plane_

_Never let 'em tell you that they're ALL the same_

_The sea was red, and the sky was grey_

_I wonder how tomorrow could EVER follow today_

_The mountain and the canyon started to tremble and shake_

_The children of the sun began to wake... Watch out!_

_SEEMS THAT THE HEART OF THE GODS GOT A PUNCH ON THE NOSE_

_AND IT STARTED TO FLOW, I THINK I MIGHT BE SINKING_

_THROW ME A LINE IF I REACH IT IN TIME_

_MEET YOU UP THERE WHERE THE PATH RUNS STRAIGHT AND HIGH_

The kids continued with their complex harmonies, which actually came together quite nicely. Meanwhile, Jake whipped out his sketch book and started to draw, inspired by this stage performance which he personally thought sounded quite nice while Sharkie burst out laughing at this scene, which he took as a private joke. Everyone else simply listened to the performance. A few seemed quite moved by it.

_To find a queen without a king_

_They say she plays guitar, cries and sings... la la la LOO _(This forced a laugh out of Don)

_Ride a white mare on the footsteps of dawn_

_Tryin' to find a woman who'd never never never been born_

_Standing on the heel of the mountain of dreams_

_Telling myself it's not as HARD HARD HARD as it seems..._

The dino kids continued with the same harmonies for a couple more minutes, then they finished with a flourish. Kark raised his arms up to each side of him, signalling the end of the song.

Needless to say, the audience gave them a standing ovation. A few cries of "BRAVO!" were heard as they all took their bows and walked off the stage. Everyone around Kark congratulated him on such a fine performance while Mrs. Pteranodon hugged her kids proudly. Mr. Pteranodon patted them each on the back in turn saying how much they did a fine job.

The corythosaurs then took the stage again. "Thank you for that wonderful performance! And now, to continue with our concert, we offer you this piece..."

The chorus played a few more songs, each one more beautiful than the previous one. One long drawn out melody demonstrating the most complex harmonies of the concert served as their finale. They were given their own standing ovation as they took their bows and walked off the stage.

The talk, however, revolved around the performance Kark and the dino kids gave. Many dinos from the audience were still congratulating Kark as they went.

"Nice rendition of that Zeppelin song, Kark!" Sharkie said as his own congratulations. "You know, for someone who doesn't like kids, you sure made a hell of an impression on those young ones..."

After pondering this, Kark shrugged. "Maybe it's just human kids that I don't like..."

Jake then got his attention and showed him the drawing he made of he and the dino kids performing on stage. "Very nice, Jake!" Kark commented with a grin.

"Thanks." Jake softly said as he smiled back.

"Did you show it to the kids?" Kark asked.

Taking the cue, Jake went to show the drawing he made to the Pteranodon kids, who commented at how much they liked the drawing, and how talented he was, when it came to drawing things. Jake showed them some of his other drawings in the sketch pad. The kids OOHed and AAHed at each drawing as they admired them.

A short time later, they arrived at the train station waiting for the Dinosaur Train to come and pick them up. Cory, Cory's mother and Perry would join them a few minutes later to see them off.

"So, as adventurous as you all are, I'm guessing you've made quite a few new and interesting friends since I last saw you?" Kark asked in conversation.

Mrs. Pteranodon squawked. "Indeed, we have!"

"Well, I certainly would like to meet some of your new friends, if I can..." Kark offered.

"That's a great idea, mom!" Buddy said with enthusiasm. "I think they'd all would like to meet Petey!"

"Petey?" Kark asked.

"Yeah! He's a peteinosaurus..." Buddy said.

"And he flies really well!" Tiny said as she spread her winged arms.

"I think it'd be interesting to see how well you fly compared to Petey... Hey, mom!" Buddy said as he turned his attention towards his adoptive mother. "Can we take Kark and his friends to meet Petey, pleeeeeeaaaase?" Tiny helped Buddy with the "please" at the end.

Mrs. Pteranodon squawked. "Sure!"

"Aaaall right!" both kids cried out as they exchanged hi fives with each other.

"I'll go get tickets to Peteinosaurus Place!" Mrs. Pteranodon said as she walked over towards the ticket booth.

"Oh! GET ONE FOR JAKE, TOO!" Kark called out. Mrs. Pteranodon turned and nodded in acknowledgement.

The Dinosaur Train arrived twenty minutes later. "Well, hello again, Pteranodon family... and friends!" Mr. Conductor said in greeting as he opened the passenger car door.

"Hi, Mr. Conductor!" all of the Pteranodon kids said at once.

"How was the corythosaurus concert?" he asked.

"It was GREAT!" Buddy said. "Kark even surprised us by singing us a song of his own!"

"Did he, now!" Mr. Conductor said as he rubbed his chin and eyed the weredragon. "Well, I certainly would like to hear all about it. But for now, I'll have to ask you to board the train. We've got a schedule to meet. ALL ABOARD!" he cried out as the entire group boarded the train with other dinos close behind them.

A few minutes later, Mr. Conductor entered through the double doors of the passenger car calling out "Tickets! Tickets, please!" Kark was always amazed at how you didn't need to push the doors to open them, despite their rustic look. He figured there must be some kind of unseen sensor at the threshold of the doors that signals for the doors to open every time someone nears them. One time, he looked around the threshold for the sensor, but couldn't find it. This was something that also reminded him of Star Trek! He guessed that whoever built this train, and provided all of the technology he has seen so far must've been a "trekkie", as a lot of things in Dinosaur Land are very similar to what could be seen on the show.

"Headed home, are we?" Mr. Conductor asked as he got to where the family and friends group were sitting and he worked at punching their tickets.

"Not yet, Mr. Conductor!" Buddy announced. "We're taking Kark and his friends to Peteinosaurus Place!"

"Yeah! We're gonna introduce them to our friend Petey!" Tiny said.

"Petey, eh?" Mr. Conductor mused as he rubbed his chin. Then he chuckled. "I know his mother. I hear he's quite the character!"

"I look forward to meeting him..." Kark admitted with a smile.

"Well, he's always eager to show new people his flying abilities. He may even ask you to try the same things he can do, Kark..."

"That's the idea!" Buddy admitted. "I wanna see if Kark's as agile as Petey is..."

"It'll certainly be interesting... By the way, you're all in luck! We're on our way to Troodon Town Junction(which is my home...) and the Dinosaur Train Turnaround; so all of you who haven't seen it yet will ALL get a chance to see what we consider to be the pride of our town!"

"YEEEEAAAHHHH..." all the Pteranodon kids exclaimed at once as they hi fived each other.

Mr. Conductor then turned to walk off towards the caboose, but remembered something and turned back. "OH! And some of your friends are in the observation car as we speak..."

"Really!" Buddy and Tiny both exclaimed together.

Mr. Conductor smiled and nodded. "Yep! There's Laura Gigantosaurus, Alvin Allosaurus... and Ned's there!"

"NEEEEED!" All of the Pteranodon kids exclaimed.

"Your friends may want to meet them..." Mr. Conductor suggested.

"Can we, mom! Please?" Buddy enthusiastically asked.

Mrs. Pteranodon squawked. "Sure!"

With that, all of the Pteranodon kids got up and raced towards the observation car. Kark and his friends got up to follow them.


	6. Chapter 6 In The Observation Car

**CHAPTER 6**

**IN THE OBSERVATION CAR**

It was like a happy family reunion in the observation car while all of the friends greeted and hi fived each other. Introductions were made all around to those who haven't met each other yet.

"Laura Giga... what again?" Kark asked.

"Giganotosaurus!" Buddy and Tiny repeated with a laugh.

"I knew that..." Don boasted.

"Yeah, right..." Kark muttered as he glared at him.

"Buddy and Tiny's told me all about you..." Don continued. "You're even bigger looking in person!"

"REALLY big!" Shiny said.

Laura laughed. "Thank you, kids! That is what makes me noticeable, I think... In fact, that's what my name means: Giant lizard!"

Kark nodded in acknowledgement. "Makes sense... the prefix 'giga' meaning 'giant' or 'big'... Like 'gigabyte' or 'gigawatt'..."

Everyone simply blinked at him in confusion. They obviously had no idea what Kark was talking about. Except for Sharkie, of course, who simply smiled at Kark's awkwardness.

"But I digress..." Kark said aloofly.

"I wasn't sure at first..." Laura began as she bent her head down to face Kark. "But now that I see you, I know that we have met before..."

Kark blinked. "We have? When?"

"About two months ago. Here, in the observation car..."

As he thought back, it dawned on him. "Oh, YEAH! NOW I remember! I was intrigued by the way you spoke... almost as if you were from Spain, or South America, or something..."

Laura blinked again. "If those are regions from your time that have people that speak like me, it would make sense... Now that you mention it, I AM from the south; which must explain why I talk the way I do..."

"Excuse me..." Alvin Allosaurus said as he approached. His footfalls were heavy enough to shake the observation car. "Let me officially extend my polite greeting to you, Karkovice!" he said as he stuck out his hand.

Kark took the hand with a smile. "Pleasure... I'm curious, though: What does your name mean?"

"My name? Why, it means 'different lizard'..."

Kark let out a small laugh. "That's funny! So the prefix 'allo' means 'different' eh? In my native language, we use 'allo' as a word by itself, meaning 'hello'... But it's also used in words like 'allophone', which means someone who's first language is neither English nor French... the two official languages of my country..."

"And what is your country?"

"Canada... It's a country that will later make up part of the northwestern hemisphere... And Sharkie over there..." Kark pointed out the anthro shark, who was currently chatting with Ned Brachiosaurus, to Alvin "... is from a country called the United States, which will make up the other part of the northwestern hemisphere..."

"Hmm... Sounds like your time is quite different then ours... I wonder if there's a town somewhere there called 'Alloville'..."

Kark laughed at this.

"Excuse me!" Mr. Conductor said as he came up from behind. "Sorry to interrupt... Buddy, I need your help as my Dinosaur Train Junior Conductor..."

Buddy gasped. "You do?"

"Yep! We've taken on a lot of passengers at our last stop, and I have a lot of tickets to punch. I could use those sharp teeth of yours!"

"Ok, Mr. Conductor! Sure! I'd love to help..."

"Great! OH! I even brought you your hat..." he said as he put the conductor's hat on buddy's head. "Let's go, Buddy! The sooner we get this done, the sooner you can come back and be with your friends..."

"See ya later, Buddy!" Tiny called as Buddy turned to leave.

"Bye, Buddy!" Don called as he waved.

Buddy waved back before he disappeared through the double doors of the observation car on the way to the first passenger car.

Kark would then learn that Laura served as the Dinosaur Train's official Observer, which meant that she was their lookout person whose job it was to spot any dangers that could cause problems for the Dinosaur Train. She even told the story of how she stopped the train just in the nick of time once because of a large tree that had fallen across the tracks, and how she was able to then use all of her strength to move the tree off of the tracks to allow for the train to continue on its way.

"That's great!" Kark commented. "But I thought that was the train's Engineer's job..."

"Believe it or not, although the Engineer is the one running the train, he has very limited vision, even from the locomotive. Also, troodon eyesight is not as sharp as mine. I can spot things from miles away because I have such good eyesight, and I am also very good at observing things..."

"I don't doubt THAT. Predators like yourself tend to have very good eyesight... uhh... you ARE a meat eater, aren't you?"

Laura chuckled. "But of course, senor! I LOVE to eat meat! I'm a theropod! And if there's one thing we theropods have in common its that we are meat eaters!"

Kark smiled. "Of course... As a dragon, I am traditionally a carnivore; but I also like fruits and certain vegetables; which, in fact, makes me an omnivore..."

"Well, that's marvellous, Kark!" Laura commented.

"Hey, Laura!" Shiny interrupted. "These are some really cool drawings you have here!"

"Why thank you, Shiny!" Laura beamed.

"You draw?" Kark said in astonishment.

Laura smiled and nodded. "It's my favourite hobby..."

"Well, isn't THAT a coincidence! Jake, my stygimoloch friend over there, also draws..."

"Really!" Laura said in surprise.

"Yeah... Hey, Jake! C'mere..."

Jake, who was talking to Sharkie, Don and Tiny, reacted to his name and walked over when he saw Kark motioning him over.

"Yeah, Kark?"

"Have you met Laura Giga-noh-toh-saw-russ... I hope I pronounced that correctly..."

Laura laughed. "Close enough!" she said with a wave of her hand.

"... It seems she likes to draw things. Just like you!"

"Oh, really?" Jake said in mild surprise.

"Yeah... Maybe you two should compare notes... or drawings, or whatever..."

Jake only half heard what Kark was saying as he grabbed Laura's sketch pad that Shiny still had in her hands and flipped through them. When Kark saw that the two of them were steeped in artistic jabber and admiring each other's work, he moved on towards where Ned was standing.

He saw that the brachiosaurus had grown quite a bit since he last saw him! He was now too big to really fit inside the passenger cars. The observation car was really the only place that was big enough to fit his bulk when he rode on the Dinosaur Train. _Hmm. Those quadrupeds sure grow up fast, don't they? _Kark thought to himself.

"So... what have you been up to since I last saw you?" Kark asked in conversation.

"Well, I'm still going to Brachiosaurus School; but my dad's found me a job to replace the Junior Conductor job I had to give up because I had grown too big to really move around the Dinosaur Train."

"A new job, eh? What kind?"

"Well, you're looking at the official Brachiosaurus Junior Green Food Inspector... in training..."

"Really?"

"Yep! Since we Brachiosauri love to eat lots of greens, I have to make sure that we eat the best greens there are... I go to work for a couple of hours every day after I finish school... the brachiosaurus Senior Food Inspector is teaching me everything I need to know to be a really good Food Inspector, like he is..."

"Well, GOOD FOR YOU!" Kark said proudly as he tapped Ned on his right front leg. "But do you miss being a Dinosaur Train Junior Conductor?"

"Sometimes..." Ned mused. "But this job more than makes up for it. It's really exciting!" he then lowered his voice so no one else can hear. "Especially since I often times have to 'sample' the green food I have to inspect..."

Both males shared laughter.

"Hey, Kark!" Tiny called as she approached the weredragon. "Did you know that Laura, Alvin, Buddy and I are part of a Theropod Club?"

"No, I didn't... When did this happen?"

"Oh... A short time ago... I became the Club Secretary, although I'm not a theropod..."

"That's wonderful, Tiny!" Kark said with a smile.

"Wanna hear our Theropod Club rhyme?" Tiny asked eagerly.

Kark shrugged. "Sure!"

She cleared her throat. "Theropods have three toed feet, lots of teeth for eating meat, a big long tail to balance well, and they also have a great sense of smell. GO, THEROPODS, GOOOO!... I wrote it myself..."

This brought laughter to Kark. "That's lovely, Tiny!"

"Hey all!" Buddy called as he rejoined the group.

"Welcome back, Buddy!" Don greeted as he put his arm around his shoulders.

"What were you talking about before I showed up?" Buddy asked.

"Tiny was just talking about your Theropod Club..." Kark said.

"Oh, yeah! GREAT club! We get together every once in a while to talk about theropod stuff, we get to meet all sorts of new theropods, and Tiny's our official Club Secretary."

"I know... She told us that already..." Kark said. "I don't think I'm a theropod, though..."

"Why not?" Alvin asked. "You have a prolonged jaw with lots of sharp teeth, a long tail for balancing, and I'm assuming that you have a keen sense of smell..."

Kark nodded in acknowledgement. "It's true that I have the sharp teeth and the long tail; and that as a dragon, I can smell many things... but I doubt I can smell everything YOU smell... and look at my feet... I have FIVE toes on each foot... not just three..."

"Still, you have many theropod traits..." Buddy concluded. "Even if you don't have ALL of the features of a theropod, you can still be PART theropod... You're more than welcome to join our club, too! It's all inclusive..."

"I'd LOVE to join your club, Buddy... but I don't live here... my place is in the future... my HOME is in the future..."

"Yeah... but ever since you took your 'little vacation', you probably haven't been HOME very often, eh?" Sharkie teased.

Kark smiled and nodded. "That's true... but it was worth every minute of it..."

"Kark..." Laura said, getting his attention. "I have a favour to ask you... Seeing as I like to draw everyone and everything I observe, I was wondering if I could draw your portrait..."

"Draw my portrait?" Kark said with some surprise.

Laura nodded. "Yes... It is not every day I meet a creature such as you. I think it will be a nice addition to my portfolio..."

After pondering it for a moment, Kark finally smiled and nodded. "Okay... sure!"

Laura let loose a light roar. "Wonderful!" Although her roar was soft compared to the way she usually roars, it was still loud enough to reverberate all throughout the observation car. "Was there any particular pose you would like to draw you in?"

Kark pondered again. "Actually, there is! Since I pride myself at being somewhat of an intellectual, I think it would be fitting if you drew me as 'The Thinker'."

"The Thinker?" Alvin said as he scratched his head. "What kind of pose is THAT?"

"Let me show you..." Kark said as he sat on a nearby stool and demonstrated the pose. This brought laughter to almost everybody.

"Perfect!" Laura announced. "Now hold that pose..." she said as she brought out her sketch pad. "This won't take long..." she concluded as she began her drawing.

While Laura was working away, Jake was actually doing a drawing on his own. He went to the far side of the observation car and began drawing his own portrait, which was actually a portrait of Laura drawing Kark.

Finally, fifteen minutes later, Laura was finished. "There! Done!" she announced.

Kark breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he relaxed. "Good! Because my arm was starting to get tired..." he said as he shook the numbness out of it.

"Here! Take a look..." Laura invited as she showed him her sketch.

Kark was simply amazed at the extraordinary detail of the drawing. She even got the background colours right! "It's BEAUTIFUL!"

"Thank you, Kark!" she growled lightly and appeared to blush.

"Can I get a copy of this?" Kark asked.

"Uhh... Sure! I'll see what I can do..." Laura said as she took back her sketch pad.

"Whatdya think of MINE?" Jake said as he showed him his own sketch.

Kark's eyes grew wide in astonishment. "YOU drew this!"

Jake smiled shyly and nodded.

Kark smiled. "Wow! You're almost as talented as Laura here..."

"Thanks... I think..." Jake said unsurely as he scratched his head.

The train whistle blew just as Mr. Conductor entered the observation car.

"Excuse me, folks!" Mr. Conductor interrupted as he walked into the observation car. "Sorry to interrupt, but we're nearing Troodon Town! I'd like to ask all those who can fit inside the passenger cars to regain their seats, please!"

With this, all those who had seats in the Dinosaur Train's passenger cars went back to them while Laura, Alvin and Ned stayed in the observation car.


	7. Chapter 7 Troodon Town

**CHAPTER 7**

**TROODON TOWN**

As the train neared Troodon Town Station, Kark could see that, even from a few miles away, it looked to be quite advanced. Almost like a major metropolis!

"Remarkable, isn't it?" Mr. Conductor said as he sidled up beside Kark.

Kark nodded. "Yes! QUITE remarkable! Further proof that you troodons must be really highly advanced dinos..."

Mr. Conductor chuckled. "Well, we ARE pretty smart! Maybe that's how we were able to build this fantastic city... and the train's round house..."

As they neared the train station, Kark saw a lone female troodon figure standing on the passenger platform. He saw that she was waiving in his direction.

Mr. Conductor, who was still standing next to him, gasped. "Oh, no..."

"YOOHOOOO... SONNY BOOOOYYY!" she could be heard calling as the train stopped next to the train station's platform.

"How does she always know! And doesn't she have anything better to do!" Mr. Conductor said with some tension in his voice.

"Let me guess... mother?" Kark concluded.

Mr. Conductor nodded somberly. Kark couldn't help but snicker at this.

Mr. Conductor sighed before calling. "Okay, everybody off! And welcome to Troodon Town station..."

"HI, SON!" the female troodon called as she ran up to hug Mr. Conductor.

"Hi, mom." Mr. Conductor said softly as he accepted his mother's hug. Kark could see, however, that he was less than enthusiastic about seeing his mother.

"How are you, son!"

"Just fine, mom..."

What struck Kark about this female troodon was not only how much she looked like Mr. Conductor, but also how she seemed to have stepped right out of the Victorian era. He wasn't sure if it was the collar she had around her neck, or the fact that her head feathers were arranged like a bonnet hairdo typical of that period in history. _The only thing missing is the Victorian Era dress! _He thought to himself with some amusement.

"Well, sonny boy, aren't you gonna introduce me to your friends here?"

"Oh! Yeah... Well, you already know the Pteranodon family..."

"Hi, Mrs. Conductor!" the Pteranodon family all said simultaneously.

"Nice to see you again, Pteranodon family!"

"And these are their friends... Karkovice the weredragon, Jake Stygimoloch and SJ Sharkie..."

"Pleased to meet you, boys!" Mrs. Conductor said as she greeted each of them with a handshake. "Welcome to Troodon Town! Feel free to look around! If any of you want to see how we turn the Dinosaur Train around at the round house, you can watch how it's done from the observation deck at the top of the train station!"

"Harumph! MOTHER! Don't you think it should be MY job to tell them that!"

"OOPS... Sorry, son! Force of habit! You see, I was the Dinosaur Train's Conductor before my son took over..."

"Really?" Jake said.

"Yep! He used to ride the train with me a lot. Everything he knows, he learned from me..."

"And you were a really good teacher, mother..."

"Yesss..." Mrs. Conductor crooned as they both shared a tender mother/son moment.

"What's that?" Sharkie asked curiously as he pointed towards something Mrs. Conductor was holding in her right hand.

"This? Oh, it's just my picture album... I was flipping through it and reminiscing while waiting for the Dinosaur Train to arrive. There's lots of pictures of my son growing up in here! You wanna see them!"

"PICTURES! I... Uhhh..." Mr. Conductor said in alarm as his eyes went wide.

"Sure! I'd like to see Mr. Conductor's baby pictures..." Sharkie said.

"Uhhh... UHMMM..." Mr. Conductor uttered.

But before he could interject, Mrs. Conductor opened up the album and was showing them to the three males. "As you can see, he knew he wanted to be the Dinosaur Train's Conductor from a very early age..."

"AAW... look at that!" Sharkie said as he pointed to an old black and white picture of Mr. Conductor as a baby hauling a toy train set behind him. "His first train set! How precious!"

"Hey! Where'd he get that hat?" Jake asked as he pointed at a picture of him as a toddler wearing a tiny Conductor's hat.

"Oh! That was my Conductor's hat that I got when I was his age... I gave it to him when he was old enough to wear it... Then, unbeknownst to me, he decided to try on my own hat..."

All three of them burst out laughing as Mrs. Conductor turned the next page in the photo album that showed the toddler aged Mr. Conductor wearing an adult sized Conductor's hat that was obviously way too big to fit on his head.

"Wow, Mr. Conductor! You were pretty cute back then!" Kark commented.

"Yeah... PRETTY cute..." Mr. Conductor said with obvious impatience.

"I know how you feel..." Kark said as he laid a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "I have a mother, too..."

Mr. Conductor smiled lightly at Kark. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I've got some business to take care of in the train station. They're just about ready to turn the train around, too! If you wanna see how it's done, I'd suggest you head up to the observation deck NOW..."

With this, all those who were interested moved up to take their place on the observation deck while the other passengers either lingered on the passenger platform continuing their conversations, or moved into the train station's building to take advantage of their many facilities.

On the observation deck, Kark, Sharkie and Jake were busy watching the operations of the round house. Mrs. Conductor had joined them. The Pteranodon family, having already seen the workings of the Dinosaur Train round house, decided to go inside the train station and browse through the brochures in the hopes of getting ideas on further Dinosaur Train adventures they could take.

"She isn't straining too much while she's doing that?" Kark asked Mrs. Conductor as he was watching Laura Giganotosaurus push the Dinosaur Train's locomotive into the round house turn station.

Mrs. Conductor laughed. "Oh, no! Laura's a pretty strong dinosaur. She can lift her entire body weight, if she had to. This is part of her job, so she's used to it..."

Kark was also getting a history lesson on the area. He learned that Troodon Town never really expanded until the Dinosaur Train came into operation. Before that, the area was nothing more than a few cave dwellings with plenty of open space for the troodons to hunt and raise their families. The Dinosaur Train really "modernized" the area.

Karkovice saw parallels with how the invention of the train brought industry to his time period, minus a hundred some odd years. He told Mrs. Conductor this fact, which truly amazed her. Sharkie, having already been in Dinosaur Land a few times now, already knew a little bit of some of the history of Troodon Town, and he kind of guessed it was all thanks to the Dinosaur Train. Jake, though, was more interested in drawing the round house and Laura at work turning the train around than to hear what Mrs. Conductor had to say about the history of the area.

"But tell me, when did the Dinosaur Train first come into operation?" Kark asked.

Mrs. Conductor thought about that a moment. "Well, let's see... It came into operation about 40 years ago, by your Gregorian calendar... Which would make it... uhh... 1970?"

"Yeah! That's right!" Kark admitted. "But who built it?"

Mrs. Conductor smiled. "Why, troodon Engineers built the Dinosaur Train, of course! But it was a human who gave us the idea for it. His name was... uhh... Bronfman... Charles Bronfman... Yeah! That's who he was..."

Kark was astounded. "CHARLES BRONFMAN gave you the idea for the Dinosaur Train?"

Mrs. Conductor smiled and nodded. "You know him?"

"KNOW him? Why, he was the founder and owner of the Montreal Expos baseball team! Which was my FAVOURITE baseball team growing up! But you're saying that the SAME MAN who started the Montreal Expos baseball club franchise also invented the DINOSAUR TRAIN?"

The fact that a human was the original mastermind of the Dinosaur Train also got the attention of Sharkie and Jake, who were now listening intently as Mrs. Conductor told the story.

"You see, Charles came here a lot when he was a kid..."

"How did he do THAT?" Sharkie asked.

Mrs. Conductor shrugged. "Probably the same way you and Kark did: With a special magic key.

"Then one day, he got a bunch of the smartest troodons together and provided them with the designs for the Dinosaur Train. It took them two years to build it, and the train stations all throughout Dinosaur Land. His idea was that he'd open up a kind of prehistoric touring company where a whole bunch of kids can travel back in time and visit their favourite dinosaurs. Seems we are quite fascinating to a lot of human kids..."

Kark chuckled. "You would not BELIEVE..."

"Since then, team mascots have been coming here from time to time with a bunch of special kids to see their favourite dinosaurs. Turns out, we were as fascinated by them as they were of us..."

"Have you ever met any human kids, Mrs. Conductor?" Jake asked.

Mrs. Conductor laughed. "Oh, yes! SEVERAL! I'd bring them aboard the Dinosaur Train, and a lot of them couldn't help but stare at me. Many of them even touched me to make sure I was real! I'd teach them everything they wanted to know about their favourite dinos... It was always a lot of fun!"

Then she sighed. "But, about 6 years ago, there weren't as many tours from the human time period that came to Dinosaur Land..."

"That would coincide with the Expos leaving Montreal to become the Washington D.C. Nationals..." Kark said as an aside to Sharkie.

"I retired as the train's Conductor at about the same time, and turned things over to my son... Sure, he still sees humans from the Cenozoic era from time to time..."

"I know... He's told me about that already..." Kark admitted.

Mrs. Conductor nodded. "The Dinosaur Train is still going strong, thanks to the numerous dinosaur passengers it takes on every day, but..." Mrs. Conductor sighed again. "I'd give ANYTHING to see more human kids come here and see all of the wondrous dinosaurs that live here..."

Kark was pensive. He saw the sadness in Mrs. Conductor's facial features. He also saw how deeply nostalgic she was at the "hayday" of the Dinosaur Train. Being a sensitive person, he certainly felt her pain. He also wished there was something he could do to bring the human children back to Dinosaur Land.

"M... m-m-m-m-Mrs. Conductor..." Jake stammered. "I don't normally do this, but since you like humans so much, I'd like to show you something... I think Kark would also like to show you that same something..."

At first, Kark had no idea what Jake was getting at; but after a few moments, he realized what Jake was referring to, which made him really nervous.

"Oh? Well, you've certainly piqued my curiosity... If what you two have to show me involves humans, then by all means!"

"Okay... But don't be afraid by what we have to show you. It's really quite harmless..."

Jake nodded to Kark as if to signal that it was okay. Kark reluctantly nodded. Both males simultaneously began their transformation into their alternate forms. When the two pillars of light dissolved to reveal their human forms, Mrs. Conductor stood in wide mouthed surprise at what she saw.

"We're both shapeshifters, and this is our other natural form..." Jake said.

Kark stayed in his human guise for a few moments to allow Mrs. Conductor to take it all in, then changed back into his dragon form. Jake followed suit and changed back into his stygimoloch form.

"But we'd both rather stay in THIS form..." Kark admitted.

"So what do you think, Mrs. C?" Jake asked.

Still wide mouth in awe, she stood their speechless. Finally, she shook her head in disbelief. "UNBELIEVABLE... Bless my scales and feathers, you're MAGIC BEINGS... Almost like a team mascot!"

Then she surprised them both by letting out a huge laugh and running up and hugging them both. "I'm SO GLAD to have met both of you!"

"The... pleasure is all ours, Mrs. Conductor..." Kark said as he returned the hug. Sharkie just stood there and smiled at the scene.

"Tell me something..." Mrs. Conductor began as she finally relinquished her hug on them both. "Do you two have to be back at Cenozoic Station anytime soon?"

"Not really, no..." Sharkie admitted. "We're visiting Dinosaur Land for the day..."

"Well, that's TERRIFIC! Since it's obvious you two boys like hockey..." she said as she eyed Kark's and Sharkie's jerseys. "Why don't you pay a little visit to our troodon cousins to the north. There, they play a game similar to hockey I'm sure you'll enjoy... As long as you don't mind the cold..."

"We don't!" Sharkie announced. "I don't know about Jake, though..."

"I'm sure if I had something like your... jur-zzees... I'd be fine..."

"You can ask Mr. Conductor for a blanket or something off of the Dinosaur Train..." Kark suggested.

Jake smiled and nodded. "Okay! Sounds like fun!"

"WONDERFUL! Just tell my son that that's where you want to go, and he'll have the Dinosaur Train take you there..."

Almost as if on cue, Mr. Conductor came up from the stairs onto the observation deck. "THERE you are! You three'd better climb back down. The Dinosaur Train's almost ready to leave..."

Kark was astounded to see that the train was already all turned around and ready to depart. "Wow! Laura sure works FAST!"

Mr. Conductor chuckled. "That she does! She usually wastes no time with turning the train around. We DO have a schedule to keep, though... I've also had her add a couple of additional passenger cars, just in case... We do seem to be busier than usual today..."

"Smart thinking, son!" Mrs. Conductor said as she patted her son proudly on the cheek.

"Oh, MOOOMM... Not in front of my frieeends!"

Everybody laughed at this.

"Okay, guys! Let's go! Train leaves in five minutes!" Mr. Conductor said as he checked his pocket watch.

With this, Mr. Conductor exchanged a farewell hug with his mother before guiding his friends down to the passenger platform and onto the passenger car. "ALL ABOARD!" he called as the remaining lingering passengers climbed on board. The three friends met up again with the Pteranodon family, who were now armed with several brochures describing many dinosaur adventure opportunities. Mr. Pteranodon was saying he may have to take his family on a world tour to take in everything that was described in the brochures they got. The Pteranodon kids who overheard this were gasping in anticipation of a real world tour on the Dinosaur Train in their near future where they would have a whole bunch of new adventures.


	8. Chapter 8 The Great White North

**CHAPTER 8**

**THE GREAT WHITE NORTH**

When the Dinosaur Train emerged from the time tunnel, it was as if they had entered into a whole different world! Instead of the lush green forested area they were probably used to, it was an endless plain white with snow. This was the Great White North, and it was here that they would meet the northern troodons!

All those who needed tickets were able to get them at the Troodon Town train station. They also made sure they got some for future stops on the way back to Pteranodon Terrace. Mr. Conductor said that the cold would be a bit more bearable here at this time of the year, which was early summer; and the sun would still be shining, if they were lucky. For all they knew, they would emerge into a heavy snowstorm on the other side! If anything, the weather in the Great White North was unpredictable.

Karkovice noticed that it was a hazy kind of sunshine, which was typical for his homeland in the wintertime. He figured he must be in the same geographical location, only it was way before humans ever walked the earth.

When everybody got off the Dinosaur Train, they could feel the chill almost immediately. Kark was pretty much used to it, and so was Sharkie. He had visited Canada often enough throughout his career as a mascot, so he already knew what to expect. The Pteranodon family found it tolerable. Matter of fact, they said it felt slightly warmer than the last time they were here; and they were glad to see that the sun was still shining, even this far up north. Jake, however, had grabbed the thickest blanket he could find off of the Dinosaur Train to wrap himself in. Even with that, he was still shivering! He was not used to this at all!

Kark figured the ambient temperature to be about minus five degrees Celcius, which was also typical for his homeland in winter. He was also amazed at how practical the time tunnel is! It brought them to this area in a little under fifteen minutes; while a normal journey, without the time tunnel, would've taken them a few days to complete! Mr. Conductor said the train'd be back to pick them up in about two hours. They had that long to find their troodon friends and say "hi".

As soon as they waved the train goodbye, they all set out in search of the troodons they had met here the last time. The Pteranodons set off in the direction they remember the frozen pond was. The others, being complete strangers to the area, simply followed them.

"Are you all right, Jake?" Mrs. Pteranodon asked the shivering stygimoloch.

"J-j-j-just f-f-f-f-fine, M-m-m-mrs. P.!" He said through chattering teeth. "My b-b-b-b-b-body will get u-u-u-used to th-th-th-th-this event-t-t-t-ually..."

Mrs. Pteranodon let out a sympathetic squawk and wrapped a wing around him in an attempt to warm him up.

"We're almost there, team!" Mr. Pteranodon announced. "I think I see the frozen pond up ahead..."

"Can I see that map, Mr. P?" Kark asked.

"Sure!" Mr. Pteranodon said as he handed him the map he had in his hands.

Kark looked at it for a few moments. "Hmmm... Exactly as I thought! Where we are right now would later become a city known as 'Ottawa', which is my nation's capital. Which means that this area will be South Central Ontario..."

"Wow! Great hypothesis, Kark!" Buddy said.

Kark smiled and bowed. "Thank you!"

"We're in luck, team!" Mr Pteranodon said. "I think I see Travis Troodon and his friends on the frozen pond!"

"TRAVIIISSSS!" all of the Pteranodon kids exclaimed in joy.

A few minutes later, they arrived on the shore of the frozen pond. They could see from a few hundred yards away that they were preoccupied with their "Knock The Frozen Gourd" game, which Kark and Sharkie instantly recognized as being similar to good ol' fashioned pond hockey. They saw that none of the troodons have noticed them yet, so they just stood there admiring the play by play that they were going through on the frozen pond.

When Travis finally did notice them, he was quite surprised. He gasped. "Hey, guys! Look who's here!" he called as he pointed towards the shore. All of the northern troodons cried out in joy and waved their wooden sticks in the air as they skate/glided up towards where everyone was standing.

"Nice to see you again, eh?" Travis said as he came up to the group standing on the shore.

"Hello, Travis Troodon!" all of the Pteranodon kids said simultaneously.

"How's it goin', eh? So what brings you here?" Travis asked.

Mrs. Pteranodon squawked. "We're showing some of our friends around! This is Jake Stygimoloch, SJ Sharkie and Karkovice the weredragon..."

Both Jake and Sharkie simply bowed in greeting at Travis, but Kark smiled and said "How's it goin' eh?" in his French accent as he smiled at Travis.

Travis was surprised. "WHOA! You talk like us, dude? Although it's in a different tone of voice..."

Kark chuckled. "Of course! Where I come from, there are LOTS of people who talk like you. My different tone of voice is simply because I'm French." He smiled.

Travis blinked.

"Don't you find he sounds like Bob Mackenzie?" Kark asked Sharkie.

"Huh?" Sharkie asked in confusion.

"Who's Bob Mackenzie?" Travis asked as he scratched his head.

"Somebody famous from my time. He sounds a lot like you..."

Travis shrugged. "Well, be that as it may, we like to include what few visitors we have here to our fun, eh? So how's about a game of 'Knock the Frozen Gourd'?"

All of Travis' troodon friends cheered at the invite.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Sharkie said with delight as he jumped on the ice and sped off in his warm up skate/glide.

"Wow! That guy sure is fast, eh?" Travis said in amazement.

"Yeah. He's an expert..." Kark admitted. "I'll play on one condition: I wanna be the goalie."

"Goalie?" Travis asked in confusion.

Kark smiled and pointed to where the two frozen branches were sticking up out of the ice.

"OH! Sure! We can give Greg a break from being the... goh-lee... the frozen gourd kinda stings him whenever it hits HIM, and not his stick."

Kark got a slight look of shock at Travis' mention of how the gourd stung his friend named Greg, but Kark figured his dragon hide must be tougher than their troodon skin. To him, his hide certainly LOOKED tougher; though he figured the tufts of feathers they had on them must cushion the impacts somewhat.

"Hmmm... This is not like the goalie stick I'm used to, but I can work with this..." Kark said as Greg handed him his wooden "goalie" stick.

"I remember I was pretty good at this..." Shiny said as she jumped on the ice. "So I guess I'll play, too!" She then grabbed a spare stick one of the troodons happened to have.

"What about the rest of you, eh?" Travis asked.

"No, thanks!" Mrs. Pteranodon said. "We'd rather watch..."

"What about you, Jake?" Travis asked.

"I'd rather watch from the s-s-s-sidelines, t-t-t-t-too..." Jake said, still shivering a bit.

Travis shrugged. "Well, let's get started, eh?" He said as he started to move towards the center of the frozen pond.

"Before we do..." Kark said as he stopped him. "I'd like to propose a song..."

"A song?" Travis asked as he scratched his head.

"A SOOONG!" Don exclaimed. "La la LOO!"

"What sort of song?" Travis asked curiously.

"Where I come from, we play a game similar to this called 'ice hockey'. In honour of the sport, a famous man named Stompin' Tom Connors wrote a song about it simply called 'The Hockey Song'. I'd like to sing it for you guys as a way to get things rolling..."

"Well, you've certainly got me wondering what this song is. By all means, eh!" Travis invited.

"Okay... Sharkie, you may know some of it... You're more than welcome to sing it with me..."

"I'll try..."

Kark cleared his throat before clapping his hands and invited every one to join in with him. Most did join with him as he sang the following lyrics:

_Hello out there, we're on the air_

_It's hockey night tonight_

_Tension grows as the whistle blows_

_And the puck goes down the ice_

_The goalie jumps and the players bump_

_As the fans all go insane_

_Someone roars "BOBBY SCORES!"_

_At the good ol' hockey game_

_OH! The good ol' hockey game_

_Is the best game you can name_

_And the best game you can name_

_Is the good ol' hockey game_

_Second period..._

_Where players dash with skates aflash_

_The home team trails behind_

_But they grab the puck and go bursting up_

_And they're down across the line_

_They storm the crease like bumblebees_

_They travel like a burning flame_

_We see them slide the puck inside_

_It's a one-one hockey game_

_OH! The good ol' hockey game_

_Is the best game you can name_

_And the best game you can name_

_Is the good ol' hockey game_

_Third period...(Last game of the playoffs, too!)_

_Oh, take me where the hockey players_

_Face off down the rink_

_The Stanley Cup is all filled up_

_For the champs who win the drink_

_Now the final flick of the hockey stick_

_And one gigantic scream_

"_The puck is in! THE HOME TEAM WINS!"_

_At the good ol' hockey game_

_OH! The good ol' hockey game_

_Is the best game you can name_

_And the best game you can name_

_Is the good ol' hockey game_

_OH! The good ol' hockey game_

_Is the best game you can name_

_And the best game you can name_

_Is the good ol' hockey game..._

_HE SHOOTS, HE SCOOOORES!_

Sharkie ended up only singing the refrain of the song. He had heard it a few times before, but actually only knew the refrain of the song. In the end, though, everyone applauded the song Kark offered; to which he took his bows.

Then everybody got ready to start the game. Travis would notice that Kark was using his sharp toe claws to scrape the ice in front of the goal branches in a side to side motion. "Whatcha doin', eh?" he asked.

"I'm making snow in front of the goal. It's an old trick many goaltenders do. They make snow in front of their goals so they don't slide around as much..."

Travis scratched his head as Kark tested the condition of the snow he made by sliding on his knees from one side to the other. Finally, Travis shrugged as he moved to the center of the ice to start the game.

As the game went on, Travis couldn't help but notice that Kark not only used his stick to stop the gourd, but his entire body. He also couldn't help but notice that he was stopping the gourd in ways he never imagined before.

Meanwhile, on the shoreline, while the Pteranodons were watching the game unfold, Jake had brought out his sketch pad and busied himself drawing several images of the troodons, Kark and Shiny playing. He tried to steady his shivering hand as best he could, but he ended up having to erase a bad line or two in each of his drawings.

During a break in the game, Travis glided up to Kark to ask him. "That's a rather unique style, eh? What do you call it?"

Kark smiled. "It's called the 'butterfly style'... In old days, goaltenders used to stop pucks... GOURDS... standing up and using mostly their sticks. Nowadays, though, they've adopted this style of goaltending... It allows them to cover more angles..."

Kark demonstrated it by moving to stop imaginary gourds in the style he described.

"Now, there's other styles of goaltending also being used: The kick save, the stacked pad(or stacked legs) save, and the spread eagle..."

He demonstrated each in turn. "The last one, though, is not recommended... unless your intention is to knock the gourd away before the guy gets a chance to shoot..."

"Wow! You sure know a lot about this sort of stuff..."

"Believe it or not, more people know more about hockey than I do..."

Travis shrugged. "Well, shall we continue?"

"By all means!" Kark said as he got ready.

The game continued for another good half hour. At one point, Shiny took the gourd and was on a breakaway. To the cheers of "Go, Shiny! Go, Shiny! Go, Shiny!" from her siblings, she sped towards the goal. Kark tried to make himself a mountain in front of her. Then, to his surprise, she faked towards her left and slid the gourd past the gaping hole Kark left to his own left. Kark tried to stop the gourd with his stick, but it was too late. She had just scored on him!

The Pteranodon family cheered Shiny while Jake smiled and applauded. "SCOOOOOOORE!" Shiny cried out in joy as she raised her stick in the air in celebration. "WOO HOOOOOO!" All of the troodons gathered around to congratulate her on the magnificent goal.

"Good fake, Shiny!" Kark said in his own congratulations.

"Thanks!" Shiny said, beaming.

"You have a natural talent for this game..."

"Gee! You really think so!"

"I KNOW so..."

Shiny smiled. "Thanks, Kark! That really means a lot..."

"Hey, GOALIE!" Sharkie called to get Kark's attention.

To Kark's horror, he saw that Sharkie had lined up several frozen gourds in a row, and was getting ready to shoot them at him.

"Try and stop THESE, if you can!"

"Uh oh..." Kark muttered as he prepared himself.

Sharkie let loose his vicious slap shot on the gourds. Kark moved constantly from left to right in an effort to stop the gourds. You could hear the THUDs of the gourds as they hit different parts of his body. One even hit close to his soft spot! Even so, Kark felt the sting on his inner thigh. He let out soft "OW...OW... OW..." cries as he stopped the gourds. A couple even hit his wooden stick letting loose a THOCK sound. One gourd, though, skidded under his legs and passed the two goal posts. Sharkie scored one goal on him!

The troodons applauded the show Kark put on. On shore, while Mr. And Mrs. Pteranodon observed the whole scene with Mrs. Pteranodon looking genuinely worried, Jake had gotten into an improvised snowball fight with the Pteranodon kids, so they didn't really watch the show Kark and Sharkie were putting on. They were all laughing as they threw the snowballs at each other. Jake had taken off his blanket! At least the friendly fight had taken his mind off of the cold.

"My goodness, Kark! Are you all right!" Mrs. Pteranodon asked as everybody gathered on shore.

"None the worse for wear!" Kark grunted as he was rubbing his left shoulder.

"Don't worry, Mrs. P! Kark's dragon hide is pretty tough..." Sharkie said.

"Yeah, but it still STINGS..." Kark said as he glared at the anthro shark.

"I'll tell you one thing: If ever you become a mascot, you're on our team as the goalie for our friendly hockey games..." Sharkie said.

"Agreed... But I'm wearing a cup! You almost caught me with one 'down there'!" Kark grumbled as he rubbed the sting out of his inner thigh.

"Don't worry, Kark! Greg feels the same way after one of our games. You'll feel better in a day or two..." Travis said.

The sound of a distant train whistle was the signal that the Dinosaur Train was approaching the station. Mrs. Pteranodon squawked. "There's the Dinosaur Train, kids! We'd better go if we're to get back home before dark!"

All of the Pteranodon kids groaned.

"Hey, mom! Will we have time to see Petey on our way home?" Buddy asked.

"I think so, Buddy... There's still time..."

"Yessss!" Buddy said as he pumped his fist.

"Well, it's been nice to meet you, Travis..." Kark said as he extended his clawed hand for a shake to the male troodon.

"Same here!" Travis said as he accepted the hand with a smile.

"The same goes to all of your buddies..." Kark then said as he waved to them.

"GOODBYE!" They all said in unison as they either waved or lifted their wooden sticks in the air.

Travis also extended handshakes with Jake and Sharkie as they left for the train station. "GOODBYE! COME BACK SOON, EH!" He called to them as they walked away.

They had arrived at the train station just in time. There, Mr. Conductor was impatiently waiting for them to arrive, checking his pocket watch. He shut the door behind him as soon as they all embarked, and the train left on to their next destination.


	9. Chapter 9 Fun With Petey

**CHAPTER 9**

**FUN WITH PETEY**

As the Dinosaur Train emerged from the time tunnel, the time warp effect was replaced by the scenery of the late Triassic time period.

The entire travelling bunch were sitting at the back of the last passenger car, so they were almost at the Peteinosaurus Place train station by the time Mr. Conductor punched the tickets of those who needed to have them punched; which meant Jake Stigymoloch and the entire Pteranodon family. Karkovice and Sharkie still had their universal tickets with them, which meant that they could travel anywhere the Dinosaur Train could take them for that one day.

"Say... Have any of you ever been to the caboose before?" Mr. Conductor asked the three males.

"Never!" Jake said.

"I don't think so..." Kark said.

Sharkie simply shook his head.

"Well, let me show it to you, then. Follow me!" he motioned to them. All three got up to follow Mr. Conductor to the caboose, which was just on the other side of the automatic double doors located right behind them. The Pteranodons were left to observe the scenery outside.

Mr. Conductor would eventually lead them to the back observation deck in the tail section right behind the caboose.

"This is where I like to go sometimes for a little piece and quiet..." Mr. Conductor would tell them. Kark found it to be anything but peaceful. "Peace and quiet" to him meant a room or place with almost no sound. He would still hear the clickety clack sound of the train's wheels as it moved down the tracks, as well as the sound of the wind rushing by. A faint creaking sound from directly in front of him got his attention.

"Hey! I just noticed something..." Kark began.

"What?" Mr. Conductor asked.

"The tail section... It's MOVING!" Kark said as he pointed.

Sharkie gasped as he saw what Kark saw. "By God, you're RIGHT! I've never NOTICED that before! Good eye, Kark!"

Mr. Conductor chuckled. "It's just one of the neat little effects of the Dinosaur Train... The moving tail section simply makes the train more real to our passengers... more ALIVE..."

"But it's not really..." Kark suggested.

Mr. Conductor chuckled again. "Oh, NO! It's all artificial..."

"So it's just mechanical arms and hydraulics under there?" Kark asked.

Mr. Conductor smiled and nodded. "Something like that..."

The faint creaking sound could be heard as Kark smiled and shook his head in disbelief. "Charles Bronfman thought of EVERYTHING, didn't he?"

"Actually..." Mr. Conductor began. "Charles Bronfman designed the locomotive... we troodons came up with the idea for the tail section, and the custom built passenger cars and everything else..."

"Well, if that thing is mechanical, I'd certainly like to know how it works..." Jake said. "I like mechanical stuff!"

The sound of the train whistle interrupted the conversation. "I can tell you all about it later..." Mr. Conductor told Jake. "For now, you'd better get back to your seats. We're nearing the train station..."

With this, everybody moved back inside the caboose and Mr. Conductor shut the double doors of the back observation deck behind him.

From the train station, it didn't take them long before they found Mrs. Peteinosaurus and her son Petey. Of course, young Petey was very pleased to meet up with his old friends, the Pteranodon children; and when introductions were made all around, Petey was the first to enthusiastically welcome all of them. Kark found it hard to believe that this little bubbly and outgoing peteinosaurus used to be very shy and introverted, according to his mother and Mrs. Pteranodon.

All of the kids went off in a separate group while the grown ups lingered behind, still keeping a watchful eye on their brood. Kark found himself being dragged by Kark over towards their group, anxious to see how agile a flyer the big weredragon was compared to Petey.

"Want me to show you what I can do, Karkovice! Huh! You wanna see!" Petey asked with enthusiasm once they reached a nearby cliff.

Kark chuckled. "Actually, Petey, my friends call me 'Kark'. So why don't you?"

Petey nodded several times. "Okay..."

"By all means, show me what you can do!"

"Okay... I call this the 'hoop de loop de swoop'..." Petey said as he prepared to take flight.

"The WHAT?" Kark asked in confusion.

"The 'hoop de loop de swoop'!" Buddy and Tiny repeated simultaneously.

Petey then showed Kark his aerial manoeuvre, which great impressed him, as well as all those who haven't seen it before.

"Oh, so THAT'S how it's done..." Don commented with a laugh amidst the cheers and applause from everyone else.

"Good job, kid!" Sharkie said.

"VERY nice..." Jake said.

"I agree... That's an amazing trick you did there, Petey!" Kark said with a smile.

Petey looked proud of himself.

"But, Kark..." Buddy began. "I'd like you to test my hypothesis about how agile a flyer you are compared to Petey... Do you think you can repeat what Petey did just now?"

Kark though about it for a moment, going over Petey's manoeuvre in his mind. Finally, he nodded. "I think so..."

"Okay, whenever you're ready..." Buddy invited.

"Now THIS I gotta see..." Sharkie whispered to Jake as Kark got ready to take off.

Amidst the encouragement of all of the kids, Kark took flight and went through the exact same manoeuvre Petey did just a few minutes earlier. Only difference being, Kark did it in much larger proportions, being much larger than Petey is.

Kark landed uneasily as everyone either cheered or applauded his efforts.

"SCOOORE!" Petey exclaimed. "That was a Triassic 'TASTIC 'hoop de loop de KARKIE swoop'... HI THREE!"

"Hi FIVE!" Kark said as he slapped palms with the fluttering Petey who had flied up to be at eye level with Kark.

"My hypothesis was RIGHT..." Buddy cried out in joy. "Kark IS as agile a flyer as Petey the peteinosaurus..."

"Yeah... But I'm NEVER doing that again... That made me DIZZY..." Kark admitted as he still tried to shake the cobwebs out. Then something hit him. "Wait! Hoop de loop de KARKIE swoop?"

Petey giggled. "Yeah! I figured 'Karkie' would sound way cooler than 'Karkovice' or just 'Kark'..."

"I don't know about that... I find 'Karkie' to sound a bit too 'girly' for my tastes..."

"I find it's the PERFECT nickname for you..." Sharkie teased.

"And if you call me that, shark boy, I'll knock your teeth out!" Kark said with a slight note of irritation, emphasized by his balled fist.

Sharkie gulped and let the matter drop.

"Well, since my 'hoop de loop de swoop' is too dizzying for you..." Petey said, changing the subject. "What kind of flying feats can you do?"

Kark smiled at the little flyer. "I'll show you..."

Kark demonstrated his flying abilities by doing several different manoeuvres, which included banks, level offs, tunnels, corkscrews, him flying upside down, a giant looping manoeuvre, and even a nose dive where he pulled up just before hitting the ground.

Excited by this, the Pteranodon flyers took to go flying with Kark. "Hey! Wait for me!" Don cried as he took off to join his sisters. Even Petey joined in on the fun!

All of the pterosaurs and Petey were giddy with laughter as they flew all around Kark. Kark himself couldn't help but laugh as the young flyers danced around him in their own aerial manoeuvres.

Those who were on the ground couldn't help but be amazed at this improvised aerial spectacle. Feeling inspired, Jake took out his sketch pad and began drawing scenes of the aerial display, including the scene of Kark attempting the 'hoop de loop de swoop' he remembered Petey showing him.

When all of the flyers grew tired of flying around, they landed. While the flyer kids spent some playtime with Buddy, including playing the game Petey thought up last time they got together where Buddy would throw a stick in the air and all of the flyers would try to catch it, the grown ups all sat together in a circle and chatted away.

Mrs. Peteinosaurus was mainly curious to know more about the three new adult creatures she met: Where they came from, what they ate, what they liked to do for fun... While Jake described his life in Stygimoloch Valley, his passion for nature and drawing, and his interest in all things mechanical; and while Sharkie spoke about his life and career as a hockey mascot in San Jose, California; Kark spoke about his life in the cenozoic time period and his many passions and interests, and how he was currently living his life long dream and the fact that is was all one big adventure.

In turn, Mrs. Peteinosaurus described her life on Peteinosaurus Place with her son Petey. She couldn't help but notice how the talk of eating bugs, the staple of the peteinosaurus diet, turned Kark's stomach. She apologized to Kark for making him feel uncomfortable. Kark said that it was okay, and that he had a very particular diet, even for an omnivore. Jake, being a vegetarian, described it more as being 'peculiar', remembering Kark mentioning that he wouldn't eat any raw meat or carrion, like many carnivores and omnivores he knew.

During a break in their playing, Petey asked Kark if he liked to chew on sticks, like he did. Kark smiled as he told Petey he didn't. Petey's mother mentioned that chewing on sticks was a common habit among peteinosaurus kids, but they usually grow out of it once their adult teeth grow in.

The distant sound of the train whistle made Mrs. Pteranodon squawk to call attention to her kids that it was time to leave. When Mr. Pteranodon saw that this didn't get their attention, since they had resumed playing, he let loose a trilling whistle that got their attention, and surprised Kark at the same time.

"Time to go, team!" he called to his kids.

They all moaned in disappointment. "Can't we stay just a little bit longer, dad? We're having so much fun!" Tiny begged.

"Now, now! It's late in the afternoon, and we have to be home in time for dinner..." Mrs. Pteronodon said. "Which reminds me, we'd better stop at Big Pond on the way back to catch fish for our dinner... Besides, we'll come back here on another day..."

"Sure thing, hon!" Mr. Pteronodon said. "Come on, team! We don't wanna miss the Dinosaur Train..."

"Okay..." they all said simultaneously as they sighed heavily.

"We'll walk you to the train station..." Mrs. Peteinosaurus said. "Come on, Petey!" she called to her son, who obeyed and followed his mother.

"I don't know what your plans are for the rest of the day, boys; but you're more than welcome to stay with us for dinner... We can even show you our nest at Pteranodon Terrace..."

"I think we'd like that!" Sharkie said with a smile. "Kark?"

Kark nodded. "Sure..."

"What say you, Jake?" Sharkie asked his stigymoloch friend.

"No prob..." Jake answered with a smile.

Mr. Pteranodon squawked. "Then it's all settled! You can even help us catch fish at Big Pond for our dinner..."

With this, the entire gang continued merrily down the path to the train station, where the Dinosaur Train was there waiting for them. Mrs. Peteinosaurus and Petey waved goodbye to them as the train left the train station on the way to the time tunnel and Big Pond, in the Pteranodon family's time period.


	10. Chapter 10 At Big Pond

**CHAPTER 10**

**AT BIG POND**

It took the Dinosaur Train about a half an hour to get to the Big Pond train station.

As soon as Kark got off the train, he caught some movement on his right. It was Laura Giganotosaurus waving at him to get his attention. "Senor Kark! Senor Kark!" she called to him.

"Yes?" Kark asked as he walked up to her.

"Before I forget, I wanted to give you this..." Laura said as she handed down a page torn from her sketch pad to him. "It's the copy of your drawing you asked for..."

Since Laura's sketch pad was just her size, and she was a big dino, it was as big as your average carry on bag; but for a ten foot tall weredragon, it was not all that big.

"Wow! This is BEAUTIFUL!" Kark commented as he admired the drawing. Everything in it was absolutely perfect, from the colour tone of his skin right down to the background shades. "Great job, Laura! Thank you very much..." He smiled at her.

Laura seemed to blush as she giggled. "You're quite welcome, Senor Kark... I do hope we get a chance to speak to each other again sometime soon..."

Kark smiled and nodded. "I'd like that..."

Mr. Conductor's cry of "ALL ABOARD!" in the background brought him out of his reverie.

"Gotta go! See you around, Laura... It's nice to have formerly met you..." he waved to her as he left to rejoin his friends.

"Goodbye, Senor Kark!" Laura called as she waved back.

As the train left, the whole gang headed down towards Big Pond. Kark showed them the drawing Laura made, and everyone was quite impressed by it. They all commented that Laura was really a quite talented artist.

A few minutes later, they all arrived on the shores of the lake known as Big Pond. As soon as they arrived, Mr. Pteranodon started to organize everything.

"Okay, team! We have a lot of fish to catch for dinner, so I'm going to need everybody's help. Kark, how good is your eyesight?"

"Pretty good..." Kark said.

"Okay... Can you be our spotter for a bit?"

"Sure... uhhh... What's a spotter supposed to do?"

"Simple... You just fly up to that cliff, keep an eye out for fish, and just point us the direction..."

Kark nodded. "Sounds simple enough... Okay..." He then took flight to take his place on the cliff.

"Well, since I'm a vegetarian, I'll go gather up some fine greens..." Jake said as he started to walk towards the nearby forest.

Mrs. Pteranodon squawked. "I'll help you..." Then she went to join Jake.

"I'm gonna go do my own brand of fishing..." Sharkie said as he stripped down to just his camouflage shorts and waded into the water.

"A whole bunch of fish straight ahead, guys!" Kark called down as he pointed.

"Thanks, Kark!" Mr. Pteranodon called our as he waved. "Okay, team! Let's get at it... The sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done..."

The fishing was great, thanks to Kark's keen eye and his brilliant job as a spotter. Since they already knew the concept of time, all Kark had to do was point and say: "Four o'clock, Don!" "Three o'clock, Shiny!" "Twelve o'clock straight ahead, Mr. Pteranodon!" and they instantly knew where to go.

Kark wondered if Mr and Mrs Pteranodon had a first name. He figured they must, since all of the Pteranodon kids went by their own first name; as well as other dino people he met during his stay in Dinosaur Land. He figured those who only went by "Mister" "Miss" or "Missus" preferred to be referred to in that way, like the Pteranodon parents. He thought if ever they'd want someone to know what their first names were, they'd surely let them know.

While he was on the cliff, he noticed that Tiny and Buddy were in a shallow area of Big Pond. Buddy was in the water up to his chest, and Tiny was flying around a little ways off shore. She would then let out a cry that was amazingly similar to that of the Dinosaur Train's whistle, and this would scare the fish towards where Buddy was standing, and he would snatch them up with his teeth. They were able to catch a few fish like this. Kark figured that Tiny wasn't as adept at catching fish like her siblings and father were, so she teams up with Buddy to catch their own fish like this. _Ingenious! _Kark thought to himself.

Jake and Mrs. Pteranodon soon returned with their arms full of greens. They both set it down in a pile next to the small mound of fish that were already caught. Mrs. Pteranodon then wanted to take over as spotter, thus freeing up Kark to help with the fishing in his own way.

He decided to catch some fish like he did the last time by honing a branch into a harpoon with the help of his sharp index talon, and then wading into the water to spear whatever fish came close to him. He was able to catch a few like this that he will later eat.

At one point, he noticed that Don had caught a particularly large fish. It was more than twice his size, and probably twice as heavy; but he was still able to keep it in his beak and carry it to shore. _I guess collecting things is not all Don is good at! _Kark thought to himself with some amusement.

While all this was going on, Jake had taken out his sketch pad again, sat down on the beach near the two piles of food, and busied himself drawing several scenes of everyone fishing.

"Hey, look!" Shiny cried at one point as she pointed from shore.

"Say... Isn't that Sharkie?" Don asked as he saw what his sister saw off shore.

"Why, yes it is, kids!" their father admitted.

"I can see his fin!" Shiny commented as she saw that he was swimming just under the surface with his dorsal fin sticking up out of the water, like an ordinary shark would.

"What's he doing?" Don asked in some confusion.

"I think I know..." Kark said as he joined them and observed the spectacle.

They all heard a splash as he suddenly dove under the water. He resurfaced moments later holding a flailing fish in each of his hands and one in his mouth. He held them up for all to see.

"Way to go, Sharkie! WOO HOOOO..." Don cried as he raised his winged arms in the air, quite impressed by what he saw.

"Show off!" Jake muttered as he rolled his eyes.

At one point, Mr. Pteranodon called a halt to the fishing when he saw that they had caught enough. Everyone then decided to have dinner right on the shore of Big Pond. Everyone cheered at the decision to have the improvised picnic.

Since Kark and Sharkie didn't like to eat their fish raw, they went and found a lava fissure nearby that was hot enough to cook the fish they caught. Though Sharkie's kind traditionally ate fish raw, he had gotten used to cooked food(like hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken wings, French fries and popcorn) since he became mascot for the San Jose Sharks.

They skewered the fish on sharp sticks, like shish kebabs, and would later eat them like that once they were cooked. By the time they came back to join the group with their cooked fish, the gang had already gone through half the mound of raw fish they caught, and Jake had already gone through half his pile of leafy greens.

There was pleasant conversation all around as the improvised picnic continued on. They lingered at Big Pond until the sun got low in the sky. That's when Mr Pteranodon let out his trill whistle to get everyone's attention and announce that they had to leave for home. All of the Pteranodon kids moaned as they had to break away from their improvised games in the shallow waters of Big Pond where Kark, Sharkie and Jake joined in.

"Don't I wish I could whistle like that..." Jake commented as they gathered up to head back to the train station, leaving whatever fish bones and uneaten fish left over to the scavengers.

They arrived at the train station just in time to catch the Dinosaur Train to head back to Pteranodon Terrace. Mrs. Pteranodon invited Kark, Sharkie and Jake there to see the place they called "home", seeing as there was still some time before the Dinosaur Train made its final run back to Troodon Town to then shut down for the night.


	11. Chapter 11 Home Again

**CHAPTER 11**

**PTERANODON TERRACE AND HOME AGAIN**

For the next hour or so, the three males were shown around the place the Pteranodons called "home". They got to see their nest, a bit of the scenery of the area, and Don showed them his continuously expanding collection. Kark had already seen it, but his two friends haven't. While Kark did notice a few new things that were added to it since last time, Jake and Sharkie were quite impressed by what Don has collected so far.

Everybody ended up hanging around the nest and chatting. Then Mrs. Pteranodon noticed her husband was slumped back against the wall of the nest and was snoring. She let out a light squawk. "Aaw, it's been a long day for my husband..."

Shiny giggled. "It's been a long day for Don, too! He, too, is already asleep, mom." She pointed at her already laid down and snoring brother.

"We should all get some sleep... You boys'd better get going, if you don't wanna miss the Dinosaur Train's last run back to Troodon Town." Mrs. Pteranodon said.

"All right, Mrs. P... Thanks for everything... It's been fun!" Sharkie said as she moved in to hug the female pteranodon, who squawked happily.

Everybody else exchanged hugs all around with everybody else who was still awake.

"Goodbye, guys! Hope to see you again soon..." Buddy whispered so as not to wake his father and brother as he waved to them.

The three males waved back as they walked back towards the train station.

"Come, honey... Lay down here next to me... That's it!" Mrs. Pteranodon as she gently moved him down to his sleeping place in the nest.

"SNORT... Just one more fish, mom, please!..." he muttered in his sleep as he was laid down by his wife.

The entire Pteranodon family cuddled up against each as they bedded down to sleep for the night. They soon fell into slumber.

On the path back to the train station, Sharkie got an idea.

"Hey, Kark! I just thought of what we could do tomorrow..."

"What?"

"Well, since it's my day off, and the next game isn't until two days from now, I figured we could head out to the beach..."

"Sounds like a plan!" Kark smiled. "But... what if it rains..."

Sharkie grinned. "There's an old saying: It's always sunny in California. If they're predicting rain for the San Jose area, we'll just simply go to another area where there IS no rain!"

Kark nodded. "Okay! Sounds good!"

"You can come, too, Jake, if you'd like... It'll give you a chance to see what the Cenozoic Era looks like..."

Jake thought about it a bit, then finally smiled and nodded. "All right... "

"Great!" Sharkie exclaimed as he patted his two friends on their shoulders.

The Dinosaur Train was just pulling into the station when they arrived. Kark noticed that Laura Giganotosaurus was lying down asleep in the observation car. He could hear her snoring lightly as he got on the train.

As they took their seats in the passenger car, Sharkie was giving his two friends instructions on how to meet up with him tomorrow.

"This is the address to my condo, Kark..." Sharkie started to say as he handed him a piece of paper.

"You have a condo?" Kark interrupted.

Sharkie smiled. "Yeah... It's a pretty common thing in California..."

"What's a 'condo'?" Jake asked.

Sharkie chuckled. "You'll find out... Kark, you can get there by taxi. Just give the cabbie that address; or you can simply say you wanna go to 'Sharkie's place', and they'll know where to take you... Try to arrive for a little before 11..."

Kark nodded. "Okay..."

"Now, Jake? What you'll have to do is get a ticket to Cenozoic Station... Try to be there for 11 AM tomorrow, and I'll meet you there... You do remember how to calculate time, do you?"

Jake smiled. "I'm sure I'll figure it out..."

Sharkie smiled back. "Yes! I'm sure you will..."

"Do I need to bring anything?"

Sharkie smiled again. "Just your appetite... because I'll be preparing a brunch for all of us..."

"I like it already!" Kark exclaimed.

"Okay... I may bring my sketch pad, though... In case something in your time INSPIRES me... Speaking of which, I'm gonna need a new one pretty soon..."

"I'm sure you can get one at the train station..." Sharkie suggested.

Then the double doors to the front of the passenger car opened to reveal Mr. Conductor. "Next stop, Stygimoloch Valley!" he announced as he walked in. "You get off here, Jake..."

Jake nodded. "I must say, though... I've never been so inspired in my entire life! Look at all the drawings I did today!" he said as he flipped through the pages of his sketch book.

"Sounds like you three had a lot of fun today!"

"TREMENDOUS fun!" Jake exclaimed. "These two males are the most fun loving guys I've ever met in my entire life!"

Mr. Conductor chuckled. "That's Sharkie's best quality... He's an entertainer who knows how to keep people entertained..."

"That's why I'm a team mascot!" Shake said with a smile.

The train's whistle resounded announcing their approach to Stygimoloch Valley Station. Mr. Conductor saw Jake off the train, who then turned and waved goodbye to his friends as the train departed. Kark and Sharkie smiled and waved back.

The sun was just starting to set by the time they arrived at Cenozoic Station. Mr. Conductor said his goodbyes to the two males as he shook their hands when they got off. He also expressed his hope at seeing them again soon. The station's attendant, who had just shut his booth down for the night, acknowledged the two departing males as he got on the Dinosaur Train that was to take him back to Troodon Town.

Kark noticed that Laura Giganotosaurus was still snoring away in the observation car. He figured her job must make for long hours on the Dinosaur Train, and she had to grab sleep whenever she could.

Although the sun was setting in Dinosaur Land, it was already past midnight by the time the two friends arrived back inside Kark's hotel room. Kark fumbled for the light switch on the wall, and turned it on when he finally found it. He had to change back into his human form to fit through the door, though.

Sharkie bade him good night as he left the hotel room and headed home to his condo. Tomorrow was another big day! Kark went to sleep soon after anxious to see the place that Sharkie called "home", and looking forward to the fun day Sharkie has in store for him and Jake.


	12. Chapter 12 Condo And Beach

**CHAPTER 12**

**SHARKIE'S CONDO AND AT THE BEACH**

S.J. Sharkie was in his condo located on the fourth floor of the complex he lived in. He had gotten up an hour earlier to start preparing the brunch for his friends. He just knew that they would love the spread he will lay out for them! He also knew that they would love the outing at the beach he had also planned for them that afternoon. In his years as mascot for the San Jose Sharks, he learned how to make foreigners and outsiders feel right at home; but of the countless hockey players, dignitaries, celebrities and VIPs he met over the years, Kark and Jake were probably the two he liked the best!

He had just finished setting the dining room table when the doorbell rang. He went to answer and smiled brightly when he saw who it was. "Kark, my friend! Good morning! Come on in! Come on in!" he said as he invited him inside.

Kark was in his human form, but he was dressed differently. He wore a pair of dark blue shorts with his usual black sneakers and white socks. He wore a black T-shirt with the head of a T-rex at the top, the full profile of the same T-rex in the middle and a full T-rex skeleton at the bottom. You could just make out the words "Halifax Museum of Natural History" in small white letters on the left sleeve. He also wore a dark blue hat that said "Auction City" on it. He was carrying a shoulder bag that Sharkie figured probably had his bathing suit and everything else he needed for a day at the beach in it.

Kark noticed that Sharkie was wearing a white and teal coloured T-shirt bearing the San Jose Sharks' logo with white Adidas Bermuda shorts and plain white sneakers.

Seeing that the place was big enough for his alternate form, Kark changed back into it. "Nice place you got here!" Kark commented as he looked around after completing his transformation.

"Thanks!" Sharkie said with a smile. "Did you have any trouble finding it?"

"No. I told the address to the cab driver. He just looked at me and said: 'Oh! You're goin' to Sharkie's, huh?'"

Sharkie laughed. "Yeah... That sounds like Hank... Real nice guy! He drove several guests to my condo for me over the years..."

Sharkie's condo was, indeed, quite nice. It was equipped with all of the usual amenities. Kark noticed that there were several paintings and pictures on the walls of the living room, the kitchen looked very modern with hardwood flooring, the carpeting in the living room and the hallway leading to the other rooms was an off white colour which matched the colour of the walls. Kark also noticed that there was a bathroom, a main bedroom and a guest bedroom in the hallway to the right of the kitchen.

"Just make yourself at home, Kark! I gotta go meet Jake... There's coffee in the big pot over by the toaster, if you wanna help yourself to some..." Sharkie said as he pointed. "I'll be back in two shakes of a shark's tail!" He said as he grabbed his magic key off of the small table next to the garbage can. He then closed the bathroom door, put the key in the lock, turned it and reopened the door. Kark recognized the two wide double doors as Sharkie reopened the door to the smallish bathroom that was there only seconds ago. Sharkie closed the bathroom door behind him as he disappeared on the other side.

As soon as Sharkie left, Kark opened the bathroom door; mostly out of curiosity in seeing if it was the actual bathroom on the other side. When he saw that it was, he closed it again, shook his head and chuckled to himself.

He took the opportunity of Sharkie's absence to look around his place. There was plenty of room for him to move around the living room and kitchen. The hallway leading to the bedrooms was a bit narrower, but he was still able to move around in them. He took a sneak peak inside Sharkie's bedroom and was surprised to see how much memorabilia was filling the room! The walls were literally covered with San Jose Sharks collectibles, right down to the covers on the bed! _Being the mascot, he's gotta have all this, I guess. _Kark thought to himself.

He was also amazed to see several pictures of Sharkie shaking hands with a few political dignitaries. He recognized U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Arnold Shwartzenegger(both as an actor and as State Governor). He also saw several other actors, including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie(of which he has his arm wrapped around her shoulders), Shia Leboeuf and Charlton Heston. He also rubbed shoulders with rock bands like Metallica, the Eagles, Z.Z. Top, AC/DC, Genesis and several other bands he didn't recognize. He also saw singers like Kid Rock, Bryan Adams, Madonna and Nelly Furtado. He was also quite amazed to see him alongside Don Cherry- the Hockey Night In Canada icon- doing the thumbs up gesture that has become his trademark to which Sharkie was imitating when the picture was taken. On this occasion, Don was wearing a white suit that was literally covered with red maple leafs. Kark couldn't help but chuckle at this. He always thought that Don Cherry dressed a bit strangely at times.

After breaking out of his awe at this literal wall of Who's Whos in celebrities, Kark moved back into the kitchen and helped himself to a cup of coffee. To his left, over by the picture window, he noticed a shelf full of CDs with a big boom box right beside it. He perused through the CDs and saw several groups he knew, others he didn't. His eyes stopped at one particular CD that was labelled "AC/DC – Family Jewels" and another one that said "Genesis – Turn It On Again/The Hits".

"No way!" he muttered to himself as he admired these two CDs that were a part of Sharkie's collection.

The sound of conversation coming from the bathroom made him immediately place the CDs back on the shelf.

The bathroom door opened to reveal Sharkie leading Jake inside. "Welcome to my humble abode, Jake!"

Jake, still in his stigymoloch form, had to turn sideways so he could fit through the door, but once he was inside, his eyes grew wide as he admired his surroundings.

"Make yourself at home!" Sharkie happily said as he moved into the kitchen.

"So THIS is a 'condo'! AMAZING!" Jake said as he gazed at the surroundings. "WHOA! What are THESE!" he eagerly asked as he indicated each object in turn.

Sharkie, who had just pulled out a large tray out of the oven to set it down on the kitchen counter, answered. "THAT is a stereo, or 'boom box'. A television set, or 'TV'... and a computer..."

Jake smiled in amazement. "How do they work!"

"I'll show you later..." Sharkie smiled. "But for now, let's eat! And are you guys in for a treat! Kark, I did some research on what you Canadians like to have for breakfast; so I made some bacon, sausages, ham, scrambled eggs and toast... AAAND... genuine maple syrup..." Sharkie said as he showed everything, including the bottle of maple syrup.

"Wow! This is GREAT!" Kark said as he grabbed a plate off of the table and helped himself to the spread. "Except I like my eggs sunny side up..."

Sharkie just looked at him. Kark snickered at Sharkie's look. "Just kidding!" he said as he patted him on the shoulder. "The eggs are fine... Just point me to the salt and pepper shakers, and I'll be good..." Sharkie just pointed to the shakers on the dining room table.

"And Jake, I have here for you only the finest fruits and vegetables that California has to offer..." Sharkie said as he handed Jake a bowl filled with the food items only a vegetarian dino like Jake could love.

Both males then moved to sit at the table. Despite being seven feet tall and somewhat large, Jake was still able to sit on the armless chair at the table; while Kark, being too large for those chairs, grabbed the big La-Z-Boy recliner that was in the living room and set it down at his place at the dining room table to sit on.

After setting himself down, Jake took a bite out of an apple from the bowl he was given. "Mmm... Delicious!" Jake commented with a smile.

Sharkie smiled. "Glad you like it! To drink, there's some orange juice in this pitcher... I don't know how you feel about coffee, but there's some in the percolator pot over there..."

Jake laughed lightly. "No, thanks... The only time I've ever tried coffee was on the Dinosaur Train, and I thought it was the absolute worst thing I've ever tasted!"

"It's an acquired taste... You get used to it after a few cups..." Kark commented in between bites of sausage.

While Kark and Jake had their own individual dishes, Sharkie helped himself to a little of everything. Kark wasn't at all surprised to see Sharkie eating fruits and vegetables along with the regular breakfast foods of a carnivore, thus confirming to Kark that the anthro shark was an omnivore. Kark remembered Sharkie admitting to liking popcorn one time, thus telling Kark that he didn't just like meat. At one point, Kark helped himself to an apple that Jake didn't wanna eat from his bowl. Kark often ate apples for dessert after a meal. Sharkie was a bit concerned, however, that Jake would be bothered by the smell of the cooked meats; but he was quickly relieved when Jake admitted that it didn't bother him at all.

After Kark thanked him for the wonderful spread that was put on, Sharkie smiled and said. "You're welcome! But this was just the tip of the iceberg... Why don't you go look and see at what's in the big cooler over by the fridge..."

Following Sharkie's lead, Kark went to look inside the cooler. Besides seeing everything that was needed for an open fire barbecue later on, he was surprised to see a familiar sight. "Alexander Keith's beer! Where'd you get this!"

Sharkie smiled broadly. "I have connections..."

"I LOVE YOU, MAN!" Kark exclaimed as he walked up to Sharkie, lifted him off the ground and gave him a big hug.

"Feeling's mutual..." Sharkie said as he struggled to breathe.

"Wow! I haven't had a Keith's in a WHILE... the only half decent beer I could get around here was Budweiser..."

"Half decent? You've gotta be KIDDING! Oh, but then again, you're Canadian. You're probably used to fancy shmancy designer beers..." Sharkie teased.

Kark grinned. "That's right!"

"Speaking OF... I'd better add my own six pack of brewskies before I forget..." Sharkie said as he moved to take out a six pack of Buds from his fridge and add it to the cooler.

While this was going on, Jake had focused his attention on Sharkie's computer. Sharkie could see that Jake was trying to figure out how to turn it on. "Here, Jake!" Sharkie called as he moved to take a seat on the desk chair. "Let me show you how it works..." he said as he turned the computer on and started showing Jake some stuff on it.

While this was going on, Kark was perusing through Sharkie's CD collection. "Hey, Sharkie! Can we bring some of these CDs and the boom box with us to the beach?"

Sharkie smiled. "Sure! As long as we don't get any sand on or in it... That thing's worth it's weight in gold..."

Then Kark was surprised to see a CD he never expected to see in Sharkie's collection. "Oh, my God! I wanna bring THIS CD with us!"

Sharkie frowned as he saw which CD Kark showed him: The Trashmen's Greatest Hits. "Absolutely NOT!" Sharkie emphatically said.

"AAW... C'mon! Why not!" Kark begged.

"I know the only reason you wanna bring that CD is to play THAT song! For the record, let me just say that I positively HATE that song, and I forbid you to PLAY it!"

"If you hate the song so much, why have the CD?" Kark asked.

"The Trashmen did a reunion tour a couple of years ago, and they did a concert in the Shark Tank... They gave me that CD as a memento to their coming here..." Sharkie admitted. "I just keep it to remember that they came here, 'cause they're really a bunch of nice guys..."

"But you don't play the CD?"

"Never!" Sharkie admitted.

"Okay..." Kark said as he set the CD back down onto the shelf.

Jake was too preoccupied with playing with the computer's mouse and clicking on stuff to pay attention to the altercation between his two friends.

Sharkie showed Jake more of his electronics stuff while Kark helped get things ready for their impending departure for the beach. After showing a bit of how the TV and accompanying DVD player worked to Jake, Sharkie turned everything off and announced. "You can explore my stuff on another day, Jake... For now, we'd better get going... I've arranged to have a helicopter pick us up and take us to where we need to go..."

"We're going to the beach by HELICOPTER?" Kark asked in astonishment.

Sharkie smiled and nodded. "Like I said: I've got connections..."

"AWESOME!" Kark exclaimed.

"I can't wait to see THIS..." Jake said softly.

"You two will have to revert back to your human forms to leave the building; but once we're outside, you can change back to your alternate forms..." Sharkie said as he started gathering up all of the gear they needed to bring.

"But... won't that alarm everybody that's outside?" Kark asked with some concern.

"OH! Hell, no! People in this neighbourhood are used to seeing me hanging around with other mascots all the time! Kark, you can assume your role as the 'unofficial' Montreal Canadiens' mascot; and Jake... you can be the mascot for a pee wee hockey team called the... San Antonio Stigymolochs... and you're in town for a visit..."

Jake nodded. "Okay... Sounds kinda catchy, actually..."

"The landing pad for the helicopter's about a fifteen minute walk from here, and we've gotta meet the pilot in twenty minutes; so grab some gear and let's get moving!" Sharkie announced.

With this, all three males grabbed all of the gear they were bringing and walked out the front door. Sharkie made sure he locked his door behind him. Kark and Jake also made sure they were in their human forms before they walked out of Sharkie's condo.

"Are you sure we can fit inside the helicopter in our altered forms?" Kark asked Sharkie as they arrived at the landing pad.

"Absolutely!" Sharkie answered. "It's a refurbished Sea King that's mainly used for aerial tours of San Jose. I've chartered it for the day. The pilot's an old friend of mine named 'Frank'. You're gonna like him! OH... Here he comes!" Sharkie said as he saw the helicopter coming in from the downtown area.

The noisy helicopter kicked up a lot of dirt and debris that the three males had to shield themselves against as it landed. Kark and Jake followed Sharkie as he opened the big side door to the helicopter and climbed in.

Sharkie and Frank greeted each other happily with a surfer's style handshake once on board. Sharkie introduced Frank to Kark and Jake, who did more formal handshakes with the helicopter's pilot. Frank was a middle aged balding man who wore a light blue dress shirt over top a plain white undershirt, blue jeans and black loafers. His tinted sunglasses hid his eyes, and he had a pack of cigarettes in his front shirt pocket. He also bought Sharkie's story of Kark and Jake being team mascots as if it were all normal. It seemed to Kark that this was not the first time Frank had ferried around some of Sharkie's mascot buddies.

"Well, I'm ready to rock!" Kark admitted as the helicopter took off. "How's about a little AC/DC, guys!"

Sharkie smiled and nodded. "Sounds good! Jake?"

"Sure..." Jake said as he shrugged.

"Hope you don't mind, Frank..." Kark said.

"Hey! It's your party, boys! You can do what you want, as long as you don't wreck my huey...Besides, I like a little AC/DC myself..."

With this, Kark broke out the CD that he put in the boom box that he brought along. He had been looking forward to this ever since he learned Sharkie had this particular CD! Kark cranked the volume of the boom box up as the first drum beats of "Who Made Who" resounded throughout the helicopter. Kark and Sharkie did a little tandem air guitar to the song that made Jake laugh. It was loud music like this all the way to their destination, which was the beach.

It took them about forty five minutes to arrive at their destination, which was a private island beach on the outskirts of San Jose. There wouldn't be anybody else there for miles around, as it was mostly inaccessible, except by way of private helicopter, like in this case.

All the way, Jake seemed most interested in the functionings of the Sea King helicopter, and he had several questions for Frank, who explained to him the purpose of the cockpit controls over the din of the music.

When the sight of the beach they were headed to came into view, Kark and Jake were totally amazed by what they saw.

"It's BEAUTIFUL..." Jake commented.

"It's like a tropical island getaway of some sort!" Kark said in awe.

"I thought so, too, first time I came here!" Sharkie said with a nostalgic smile. "It was for a photo shoot for the Sharks' official website; and after spending the day here, I said to myself: This is where I'm going to take my beach going friends..."

"Well, you've certainly picked the right spot, my shark friend!" Kark said.

"There you go, boys!" Frank said as he landed the Sea king on a flat patch of sand dune. "Have fun!"

"Thanks, Frank!" Kark and Jake said simultaneously as they grabbed their gear and exited the rear of the helicopter.

"I'll radio you tonight when it's time to pick you up!" Frank called out as Sharkie left. Sharkie responded by giving Frank the wink and the gun.

From there, the three males spent the entire day listening to music, playing catch with a Frisbee and a beach ball that Sharkie brought, lounging and soaking up the sun in beach chairs that Sharkie also brought, swimming, walking and exploring the island they were on. Jake busied himself with drawing several images of the island scenery, including the aerial view he had in his mind's eye of the island that they flew over; as well as scenes of Kark and Sharkie playing, swimming, or fooling around. When he finished off his old sketch book, he broke out the new sketch book he got and simply continued drawing.

Kark figured the temperature to be about twenty eight degrees Celcius, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky! When it comes to beach weather, it was ideal conditions!

"Toss me a Keith's there, Sharkie!" Kark ordered as he decided to start breaking out the beer from the large cooler that was brought, at one point.

Sharkie did as Kark asked as he broke out one of his own cans of Bud.

"What is it you guys call those drinks again?" Jake asked.

"Beer!" Kark answered as he smacked his lips after a drought.

"C... can I try one of your... bhee-rrz?" He asked tentatively.

Sharkie almost choked on his own beer swallow as he heard what his stygimoloch friend asked. "Whoa, Jake! Are you sure? You may not like it..."

Jake smiled. "Hey! I'll try anything once..."

After letting what Jake said sink in, Sharkie smiled. "Okay, Jake... But don't say I didn't warn you..." he said as he handed Jake one of his cans of Bud from the cooler.

Jake opened up the can using the claw on his finger, exactly like he'd seen Kark do earlier. He took a draught from the can, and made a face as he spat out the contents of his mouth. "CRAP, that's awful! GEEZ!"

Kark couldn't help but laugh at Jake's reaction to the beer.

"I think brachiosaurus poop tastes way better than THAT stuff... SCALES..."

Kark couldn't stop laughing as he doubled over onto the sand.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Jake exclaimed. "How can you guys DRINK that allosaurus pee!"

"You get used to it..." Sharkie said as he smiled, shrugged and took another draught from his own can.

"Sh-sh-sh-sharkie's right..." Kark managed to say as he got over his case of the giggles. "It's an acquired taste..."

"Well, I certainly won't drink THAT stuff again! No way, no HOW..." Jake said as he already decided that he hated the stuff they called "beer".

"Good! Too much of it is harmful to you, anyways..." Sharkie said as he took another draught.

"Amen..." Kark said as he took a draught from his own can.

"Besides, I brought plenty of water and pop, if you want some..." Sharkie said.

"I feel I'm gonna need a whole POND of water to wash this taste out of my mouth. YUCK!" Jake said as he made another face.

Smiling, Sharkie tossed Jake a bottle of Naya spring water that Jake soon opened up and downed.

At another point during the day, while Sharkie was floating on his back in the sea water, Kark made a motion to Jake to keep quiet as he reached for a CD in the bag that was brought, took it out of it's case, and put it in the boom box. He turned the volume up to the maximum, and the song he programmed the boom box to play echoed throughout the beach:

_Well everybody's heard about the bird_

_The bird bird bird... the the the bird_

_The bird bird bird... the the the bird..._

Sharkie reacted by snapping his head towards the shore. "KAAARRRKKK... Turn that song off! Turn that off RIGHT NOW!"

_Well don't you know about the bird..._

_Well everybody's talking about the bird_

_The bird bird... the the the bird, the..._

"AAW, C'mon, man! This is, like, the best song EVER..." Kark taunted as he got up to dance to the beat, much like the way Don Pteranodon would.

"Best song ever, my fin!... I'm warning you, Kark! Don't make me come over there!" Sharkie cried out menacingly.

"Come on, shark boy! BRING IT!" Kark motioned.

"THAT'S IT!" Sharkie pointed as he swam towards shore and sprinted towards Kark.

Both males crashed together as they play wrestled. "Must... get... to... stereo..." Sharkie grunted as he stretched to hit the off button on the boom box while Kark held him back.

_A ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba..._

_Mow mow... m-m-m-m mow mow..._

_Mow mow... m-m-m mow mow..._

When Kark decided that he's let Sharkie suffer enough, he relinquished his hold on Sharkie and allowed him to finally hit the off button on the boom box. "You PRICK!" Sharkie said as he shoved himself away from Kark.

All the while, Jake couldn't stop laughing at the antics of his friends. He finally doubled over on the beach, so overcome by the laughter.

"Stop laughing, you!" Sharkie shouted. "It's not funny!"

"I c-c-c-c-can't..."

"You're a terrible wrestler, Sharkie!" Kark teased.

"Yeah... yeah... and you're a RIOT!" Sharkie said sulkily.

"You guys crack me up!" Jake said as he finally got over his laughing fit.

"Glad to see SOMEONE finds this amusing!" Sharkie grumbled.

This little incident was soon forgotten, however, as both males opened up a fresh can of beer each and clanked them together in a toast to each other... and to eternal friendship. Jake clanked his bottle of water to each of their beer cans in his own toast of friendship.

At around supper time, the three males gathered up some driftwood on the beach to start a fire. Sharkie started the fire with a cigarette lighter to some of the dried driftwood with dried up Irish moss as kindling.

Then they broke out the hot dogs and hamburgers to roast over the open fire. Sharkie had brought some corn on the cob for Jake to roast on the fire in place of hot dogs and hamburgers. The regular condiments, and cheese slices to make cheeseburgers made the makeshift beach roast complete! Jake decided to try some pop with his roasted corn. He grabbed a can of Coke from the cooler and tried it. In contrast to the beer he tried earlier, he thought the Coke was really good! Just the right amount of sweetness to go with his roasted corn! Kark and Sharkie polished off their beer while eating the roasted hot dogs and hamburgers they cooked up. Although it was only a six pack, it was enough to make Kark feel a little high.

Afterwards, Sharkie broke out the marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars to make smores. Sharkie was surprised to hear Kark admit that he never had real old fashioned smores in his like. Kark toasted marshmallows over a campfire many times throughout his life, but never actual smores. Jake could also eat smores, as there was no animal products in the chocolate, graham crackers or marshmallows, and he found them to be quite good.

Just as the sun went down, the three males decided to go for a moonlight swim. Contrary to what Kark thought, the water was still quite warm, even in the absence of sunlight. Kark thought it was almost like pure Heaven!

Jake got out of the water first and sat down on the shore gazing up at the night sky. When Kark grew tired of swimming, he waded out of the water to join his stigymoloch friend. The fire provided limited lighting, but Kark had pretty good night vision, so he was able to see his way around. It was easy for him to find Jake.

"Whatcha doin'?" Kark asked as he sat down beside Jake on the beach.

"Just looking up at the stars here... Doesn't look anything like the stars back home, though..."

Kark looked around for Sharkie. He wasn't in the water anymore, nor was he anywhere near the fire, or anywhere close by. He seemed to have disappeared.

"I don't recognize any of the patterns..." Jake said.

"Well, you have to take into account several million years of stellar drift..." Kark said.

"Do you know any of the constellations?" Jake asked.

Kark nodded. "A few... My father would know more about them, though. He's an Astrophysicist..."

"Is that anything like a star gazer?" Jake asked.

"In a sense..." Kark answered. Then he pointed to a few constellations and named then one by one. "That's Orion up there... Pegasus... the Pleiades... the Big Dipper... the Little Dipper..."

Jake sighed contentedly. "I love looking at the stars... It makes me feel... at peace, somehow..."

Both males were surprised by a light being shown in their direction. It was bright enough to make Kark squint. It was Sharkie! He had taken out a flashlight and was shining it on them. "Hey, guys... I just got a radio in from Frank... He's on his way... Let's pack everything up to head back to the landing area..."

With this, everybody gathered everything up to head out. They decided to let the fire burn itself out. It was far enough away from the beach grass that it wouldn't cause a fire, even if the wind suddenly picked up. They arrived at the landing area just in time to hear the distant sound of the Sea King helicopter that was coming to pick them up.

When they arrived back at the landing pad near Sharkie's condo, Kark decided to help Jake and Sharkie carry back the stuff to the condominium building. Once there, he hugged Jake goodbye knowing he may not see him again for a little while, and gripped Sharkie's forearm thanking him for everything and the wonderful day he had. Sharkie reciprocated by saying that he was welcome.

While Kark changed back into his human form and set out to hail a cab back to his hotel room, Sharkie invited Jake to spend the night at his place. The bed in his guest bedroom was big enough to let even Kark sleep in it, provided he doesn't toss and turn too much. Jake would leave for home the next morning with quite a story to tell his friends in Dinosaur Land about his incredible day in the Cenozoic era, and he would have his own drawings to prove it.

Soon after Jake left for home that morning through the doorway opened up by Sharkie's magic key, Sharkie would head for his job as official mascot for the San Jose Sharks hockey team as they hosted the Montreal Canadiens for game two of the Stanley Cup final at the HP Pavilion, aka The Shark Tank, to be held that afternoon at around 4PM local time.


	13. Chapter 13 Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

It was a close game, but the San Jose Sharks ended up winning 5 goals to 4. S.J. Sharkie would walk Kark out of the HP Pavilion that evening once the game was over.

"So, you're flight's leaving for Montreal tonight, huh?"

"Yep!"

"Well... there's at least one thing that's assured: There's going to be a fifth game here in San Jose, seeing as your team won the first hockey game..."

"But you're not coming to Montreal?" Kark asked.

Sharkie smiled and shook his head. "Not this time... Got too much on the go here... Besides, Jake's insisting on learning about how all my 'cool electronic stuff' works... I'd better indulge him, or I'll never hear the end of it..."

Kark chuckled. "So I guess I'll see you next week then, eh?"

Sharkie smiled. "I guess so..."

Kark and Sharkie exchanged a big hug of friendship between them. Kark never would've thought he would become friends with this anthro shark whom he thought was nothing but a prankster always out to cause trouble.

"So I'll guess I'll see you sometime next week?" Sharkie asked.

"That's a guarantee..." Kark said as he gave his friend the wink and the gun.

"See ya, Kark!" Sharkie said as he turned to walk back into the arena.

"Oh, Sharkie!" Kark called to get his attention. "I almost forgot..."

He then broke out a can of silly spray he had hidden under his hockey jersey and emptied it on Sharkie, who screamed and fell backwards as the silly spray covered him.

"HA HAAAH! Who got the last laugh NOW!" Kark taunted as he did a victory dance.

Sharkie grumbled. "You God damned CANUCK! You're gonna PAY for that!" he said as he shaked his fist at Kark, who was walking away and laughing evilly.

The Sharks would end up winning the next two games in Montreal; but the Canadiens bounced back to win the fifth game in San Jose, thus forcing a sixth game in Montreal.

The sixth game was hard fought on both sides; but in the end, the Sharks would end up winning the game, the finals, and the Stanley Cup. They won it 5 to 3 thanks to an empty net goal toward the end of the third period to seal the victory for them.

While the fans in Montreal booed the end result of the game, they gave polite applause to the San Jose Sharks as they celebrated their victory on the ice; and gave a standing ovation to the Canadiens, who went farther than anyone would've imagined this season.

It was awkward for some of the Sharks players to lift the Stanley Cup over their heads at the Bell Center; but it was joyful moment for a lot of them, despite this awkwardness. Especially for native Quebecer Patrick Marleau, whom most of his family was in attendance among the crowd in the arena. They saw him lift the cup over his head in triumph. It was his first Stanley Cup in his short professional hockey career!

Sharkie, who had not made the first trip to Montreal for games three and four, was in attendance in Montreal to cheer his team on to victory. He was even allowed the lift the Stanley Cup over his own head to the cheering and/or applauding crowd! Not many mascots get to lift the Stanley Cup over their heads, but he was immensely happy and proud that his team gave him this opportunity!

He wasn't the only one cheering his team on that night! A bunch of loyal Sharks fans had made the trip to be a part of their great victory, and they didn't stop cheering or crying out loudly from the grand stands as they celebrated along with their team! Eventually, though, everyone would leave the arena to go home.

There were a few minor skirmishes on Sainte-Catherine Street from disgruntled Canadiens fans, but the police were able to keep things well under control.

About a month later, Kark decided to take up Sharkie's advice and try out for team mascot for the Montreal Canadiens. He met with team management, who asked him several straight up questions, like a regular job interview. They would later invite him to a trial run with Youppi- the official team mascot. Kark showed up in his weredragon form pretending that it was his costume. Youppi and the managers were quite impressed by what he showed them, and offered him a contract for the upcoming season. It was so lucrative that Kark didn't hesitate to sign!

This meant that he had to establish a new home in Montreal. His family and friends back home in New-Brunswick were so delighted with the news that they celebrated when Kark eventually returned to his home province to spend the rest of the summer to spend time with people he had not seen for a little over a year.

So it would come to pass that Kark would be co-mascot with Youppi for that one season for the Montreal Canadiens; and thus was given his own special key, plus a spare one, to Dinosaur Land. He would take advantage of this privilege to visit there often, and would bring the occasional special guest, or kids with special needs, to see all of the fantastic creatures that inhabit that period in Earth's prehistoric past.

At the end of that hockey season, he would embark on a venture he had been mulling over ever since that day in Dinosaur Land when Mrs. Conductor admitted to how much she missed seeing all of the many human children who would delight in their visit to Dinosaur Land. He decided to invest what was left over of his fortune in starting a travel agency business specializing in trips to Dinosaur Land on eco sensitive safaris. He would call the agency "Prehistoric Travels". Since the head office was established in Montreal, he had to obey the language laws of the province, and actually provide a French translation, which was : _Voyages Prehistoriques. _He planned to open up several other franchises throughout Canada and the U.S.. First on the list was San Jose, California, where Kark maintained close contact with S.J. Sharkie, and often went down there on business and pleasure.

When Kark wasn't too busy with developing his travel agency franchises, he would perform his duties as mascot for the Montreal Canadiens, but only about two or three times a week, and only at home games.

But the one person who was most excited about all of the kids and their parents coming back to Dinosaur Land on visits was Mrs. Conductor. She was so enthralled by the numerous visitations by human travel groups that she came out of retirement and became a Tour Guide on the Dinosaur Train. She was so delighted at seeing all of the smiling and joyous kids interact with her and other dinosaurs in Dinosaur Land; as well as their smiling parents rejoicing in seeing their kids living their dreams and having the time of their lives. Mr. Conductor was especially pleased at seeing his mother the happiest he's ever seen her. He also enjoyed giving his lectures on all of the dinosaur species to all of the eager kids, and teaching them the dinosaur alphabet. "A for Apatosaurus... B for brachiosaurus... C for corythosaurus..." he would sing to them.

Things were really looking up for all those involved! Happy times were here again in Dinosaur Land!


End file.
